US UK, Russia-Ukraine warintense street fighting OffLine Today All Event Close By Byden

 Investigators in the East Haven Police Department are looking for an unidentified young woman who was found dead, wrapped in a tarp in a ditch behind a former department store in August 1975.

Investigators pointed to the State Street Cemetery in Hamden as a potential key in solving the Jane Doe murder, as technology has advanced in the decades since the body was initially found and DNA analysis can be used to identify her remains, WTNH reported.

It sounds convenient and Roy notes Apple stands to make significant income from this "zero interest" service as well as learn a lot about its users' spending patterns:

 

"As Apple’s customers increasingly start to use the Pay Later service, it will gain from merchant fees. These are fees which retailers pay Apple in exchange for being able to offer customers Apple Pay. In addition, Apple will also gain valuable insight into consumers’ purchase behaviours, which will allow the company to predict future consumption and spending behaviour."

But Roy argues that the harsh reality of Apple Pay Later is it opens the door for everyday users into the murky world of unregulated finance which "does not bode well for all customers."

All they need now is the body.

Connecticut police dug up the wrong body Wednesday while trying to solve a cold case from the 1970s.  (iStock)

MOM DEAD IN MASSACHUSETTS RIVER AFTER TRYING TO SAVE KIDS, SEARCH FOR SON CONTINUES

On Wednesday, police dug up a grave but did not find the young woman inside. Instead, they found a male corpse, WTNH reported.

The United States and its allies traded barbs with China at Asia's premier security meeting on Saturday, especially on Taiwan, but the war in Ukraine and a remote speech by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dominated proceedings.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that Washington will do its part to manage tensions with China and prevent conflict even though Beijing was becoming increasingly aggressive in the region.

Zelenskiy, speaking via video link from an undisclosed location in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, told the delegates that their nations' support was crucial not just to defeat the Russian invasion, but to preserve the rules-based order.

"It is on the battlefields of Ukraine that the future rules of this world are being decided along with the boundaries of the possible," he said.

He noted that Russia is blocking ports in the Black Sea and Azov Sea, keeping Ukrainian food exports from the world market.

"If ... due to Russian blockades we are unable to export our foodstuffs, the world will face an acute and severe food crisis and famine in many countries in Asia and Africa," he said.

China and the United States, which have clashed in recent months over everything from Taiwan and China's human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea, were again at odds.

Austin and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe met on Friday and reiterated they want to better manage their relationship but there was no sign of any breakthrough in resolving differences.

Austin said the United States would continue to stand by its allies, including Taiwan.

"That's especially important as the PRC (People's Republic of China) adopts a more coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims," he said.

As the search for the two missing men heightened, Brazilian officials deployed more than 150 soldiers in camouflaged trucks to the town of Atalaia do Norte to interview locals.

By Friday, officials deployed soldiers in riverboats to inspect the nearby waters.

Phillips was last seen with Pereira on Sunday in the Sao Rafael region of the Amazon rainforest.

AFP via Getty Images

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own and has vowed to take it by force if necessary.

Austin said there had been an "alarming" increase in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and vessels with those of other countries.

Australia has said a Chinese fighter aircraft dangerously intercepted one of its military surveillance planes in the South China Sea region in May, and Canada's military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft as they monitor North Korea sanction evasions.

Taiwan has complained for years of repeated Chinese air force missions into its air defence identification zone, and Austin said these incursions had surged in recent months.

Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, a senior Chinese military officer, called Austin's speech a "confrontation".

"There were many unfounded accusations against China. We expressed our strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to these false accusations," Zhang, vice chief of the joint staff department of China's Central Military Commission, told reporters.

"The United States is trying to form a small circle in the Asia-Pacific region by roping in some countries to incite against some other countries. What should we call this other than confrontation?"

CLOSED-DOOR MEETING

Earlier this year, Washington said China appeared poised to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

But since then, U.S. officials have said while they remain wary about China's longstanding support for Russia in general, the military and economic support that they worried about has not come to pass, at least for now.

Ng Eng Hen, the defence minister of host Singapore, said the ties between China and Russia were discussed at a closed-door meeting of the ministers on Saturday, and that several delegates had asked Beijing to do more to rein in Moscow.

The defence minister of Japan, one of Washington's closest allies in Asia, told the meeting that military cooperation between China and Russia had sharpened security concerns in the region.

"Joint military operations between these two strong military powers will undoubtedly increase concern among other countries," Nobuo Kishi said at the Singapore meeting.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand also spoke out against China.

"The interceptions by the Chinese of our (aircraft) are very concerning and unprofessional and we need to ensure that the safety and security of our pilots is not at risk, especially when they are simply monitoring as required under U.N.-sanctioned missions," Anand told Reuters in an interview.

New Zealand voiced concern about Chinese attempts to gain influence in the Pacific islands.

 

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said it was reasonable to expect China to make clear it did not support the invasion of a sovereign country in violation of the U.N. Charter.

"That China has not done so should give us cause for concern, especially given the investments it is making in military power," he said at the meeting.

"There was nothing on her that could identify who she was," retired New Haven Police Officer Tony Griego told the outlet. Griego has dedicated his retirement years to assisting police with the investigation, WTNH reported.

CONNECTICUT POLICE MAKE DRAMATIC BOAT RESCUE AFTER GETTING HELP FROM FACETIME, VIDEO SHOWS 

The young woman was believed to be about 5 feet 5 inches tall with brown hair, officials said.

"Unfortunately, it was not the girl we had hoped for," Griego added, per the report.

Four years and four months ago, a high-school student delivered a speech at a rally outside the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Three days earlier, a gunman had killed 17 of X González’s classmates and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland with an AR-15-style rifle. “We are going to be the last mass shooting,” González told the assembled crowd and cable-news cameras.

It wasn’t, of course. In 2018 alone, there were 336 mass shootings in America, according to the Gun Violence Archive; since then, there have been at least 1,719 more. The righteous anger of millions of teenagers, parents, and teachers didn’t stop those shootings from happening. Neither did the historic March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington, D.C., the month after the Parkland shooting, or the massive student-led gun-control movement that followed.

It started with creeping grocery store prices, but now inflation is everywhere we look. The latest Consumer Price Index confirmed what many of us suspected: inflation may be slowing down but it's not going anywhere for a while. For America's small businesses, inflation is another obstacle they must overcome.

 

When I talk with small business owners, they all share the same feeling of uncertainty about rising inflation. And yet, their resiliency shines through when they ask how to tackle these economic pressures head-on. While business owners can't control all the rapidly rising costs, they can use their marketing as a tool to help inflation-proof their business.

Take advantage of technology to understand your customers.

The pandemic spurred the rapid adoption of e-commerce, and people are buying online more than ever. In 2021, over 2.14 billion consumers bought a product or service online - about a 2X increase from past years. This opens up a treasure of information about

ACCESS UPDATE TODAY COVID domestic helper agency in Hong Kong Rajshai

 The owner of a domestic worker agency has denied any wrongdoing over the death of a helper in Hong Kong amid allegations she was overworked, telling the Coroner’s Court he had discarded most of the written records concerning the deceased.

Appearing at an inquest into the death of Leonita Arcillas Quinto on Thursday, her agent, Sunny Li Wai-hong, said he had offered “meticulous care” to every domestic helper since he joined the profession a decade ago.

But he acknowledged that his company, Popular Employment Services, had not kept a copy of Quinto’s medical report and job-related documents as the agency did not have such a practice.

The 46-year-old Filipino woman died on April 4, 2017, after her employer found her unresponsive on her bed, less than four months after she arrived in Hong Kong.

Quinto, who had previously worked in Bahrain and Singapore, was employed by Rachel Wong Sing-yung and her family of four in December 2016. The helper developed symptoms of an upper respiratory infection a few days after beginning her new job at the family’s residence in Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Kowloon, but no significant medical findings were made after three consultation sessions at a private clinic.

The court heard on Tuesday that Quinto had come to realise that Wong had been blacklisted by several agencies due to repeated complaints from other domestic helpers.

 

The 46-year-old complained to Li just one month after starting the new job that she was required to work long hours, had been abused and was underfed. Quinto later gave one month’s notice on March 19, 2017, to terminate her contract, before her death on April 4.

Her younger sister, Imelda Abong Quinto, told the inquest the 46-year-old was asked to start working as early as 3am and could not eat until nighttime when she had completed her tasks. Wong also allegedly barred her from using the toilet even when she was menstruating.

Wong, who emigrated overseas with her family members in January and is absent from the proceedings, said in a police statement that she was “satisfied” with Leonita Arcillas Quinto’s performance.

Employment agent Sunny Li testifies at the Coroner’s Court on Thursday. Photo: Brian Wong

But Li provided a different account when the inquiry resumed on Thursday, saying Wong had complained about the helper’s inability to do household chores.

 

On the day Quinto came to the agency with Wong to ask for the termination of her contract, the latter had yelled and said she could quit if she so wished, according to Li.

 

The agency owner also said he had no recollection of whether he had double-checked the medical report of Quinto, who had a benign tumour on her left breast and suffered from menstrual migraines, before allowing her to start working.

“I did not know at the time the helper would encounter such misfortune, so I did not keep a record on everything,” Li said.

 

However, Coroner Stanley Ho Chun-yiu took the agent to task for his company’s lax record keeping.

“You are putting the cart before the horse, Mr Li. You don’t start keeping records only after the helper dies, do you?” Ho said.

Germany's transport minister voiced strong opposition Thursday to plans to ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines across the European Union in 2035, arguing this would discriminate against vehicles powered with synthetic fuels.

EU lawmakers voted Wednesday to back the measure that requires automakers to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 100% by the middle of the next decade, effectively prohibiting the sale in the 27-nation bloc of new cars powered by gasoline or diesel.

The plan, which still needs to be approved by EU member states, would significantly boost electric vehicles because lawmakers refused to exempt cars powered with synthetic fuels from the ban. It will hurt German automakers, who have focused on powerful and expensive vehicles with combustion engines while falling behind foreign rivals when it comes to electric cars.

“We don't agree with the decisions," German Transport Minister Volker Wissing told reporters in Berlin.

“We want to shape the transformation in a way that is technologically open,” he said. “This includes registering new cars beyond 2035 if they are powered exclusively with synthetic fuels in a climate neutral way.”

Recent Stories from ABC News

 

 

Synthetic, or e-fuels, are either refined from plants or manufactured using basic chemical processes and electricity. If the electricity is generated with renewable sources, such as wind or solar, then the fuels are considered ‘climate neutral’ because burning them releases only as much carbon into the atmosphere as was previously removed.

But critics argue that the limited supply of e-fuels should be reserved for those modes of transport where electrification isn't currently feasible, such as airplanes.

Experts at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research in Juelich, Germany, have calculated that a mid-size car running on synthetic fuel would use seven times as much energy as a comparable electric vehicle.

Wissing is under pressure from Germany's powerful auto lobby group VDA, which criticized the EU Parliament's vote as “a decision against innovation and technology.” It is unclear whether his position is shared by the rest of the German government.

HUMAIN VAI BORGUNA southern China as climate COVID UPDATE 2022 KAKA

 Torrential rains in southern China have killed at least 25 people, impacted millions of residents and caused billions of yuan in economic losses, as the country grapples with increasingly devastating flood seasons fueled by climate change.

In recent weeks, heavy rainfall has triggered severe flooding and landslides in large swathes of southern China, damaging homes, crops and roads.

In Hunan province, 10 people have been killed this month and three remain missing, with 286,000 people evacuated and a total of 1.79 million residents affected, officials said at a news conference Wednesday.

 

 

More than 2,700 houses have collapsed or suffered severe damage, and 96,160 hectares of crops have been destroyed -- heavy losses for a province that serves as a major rice-producing hub for China. Direct economic losses are estimated at more than 4 billion yuan ($600 million), according to officials.

 

Flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains have killed 10 people in Hunan province this month.

 

Late last month, flooding and landslides killed eight people in coastal Fujian province, five people in southwestern Yunnan province, and two children who were swept away by torrents in Guangxi province.

Chinese authorities are on high alert for this year's flood season, which started this month, after the deaths of 398 people in devastating floods caused by unprecedented rainfall in central Henan province last summer.

Summer floods are a regular occurrence in China, especially in the densely populated agricultural areas along the Yangtze River and its tributaries. But scientists have been warning for years that the climate crisis would amplify extreme weather, making it deadlier and more frequent.

 

 

 

 

'Once in a thousand years' rains devastated central China, but there is little talk of climate change

 

Henan, traditionally not a region that faces regular flooding, saw what authorities called a "once in a thousand years" downpour at some weather stations last July.

The provincial capital of Zhengzhou, which accounted for the majority of the death toll, was ill-prepared for the flooding. City officials failed to heed the five consecutive red alerts for torrential rain -- which should have prompted authorities to halt gatherings and suspend classes and businesses. Flood water gushed into the

The United Nations is pursuing a deal that would allow grain exports from Ukraine through the Black Sea and unimpeded access to world markets for Russian food and fertilizers.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told U.N. correspondents on Wednesday that without the deal hundreds of millions of people in developing countries face the threat of an unprecedented wave of hunger, three months after Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.

Guterres said, “Ukraine’s food production and the food and fertilizer produced by Russia must be brought into world markets, despite the war.”

Senior officials have been working closely with contacts in Moscow, Kyiv, Ankara, Brussels and Washington for the past 10 days, Guterres said. He said he didn’t want to jeopardize the chances of success by revealing details.

“This is one of those moments when silent diplomacy is necessary, and the welfare of millions of people around the world could depend on it,” he said

Meanwhile, fears of a global food crisis escalated over Ukraine’s inability to export millions of tons of grain through its blockaded ports.

At the same time, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled fiercely Wednesday for control of Sievierodonestk, a city that has emerged as central to Moscow’s grinding campaign to capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as the Donbas.

Many buildings in Mariupol contain 50 to 100 bodies each, according to a mayoral aide in the Russian-held port city in the south.

Petro Andryushchenko said on the Telegram app that the bodies are being taken in an “endless caravan of death” to a morgue, landfills and other places. At least 21,000 Mariupol civilians were killed during the weeks-long Russian siege, Ukrainian

Ukraine, long known as the “bread basket of Europe,” is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but much of that flow has been halted by the war and a Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. An estimated 22 million tons of grain remains in Ukraine. The failure to ship it out is endangering the food supply in many developing countries, especially in Africa.

Russia expressed support Wednesday for a U.N. plan to create a safe corridor at sea that would allow Ukraine to resume grain shipments. The plan, among other things, calls for Ukraine to remove mines from the waters near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

But Russia is insisting that it be allowed to check incoming vessels for weapons. And Ukraine has expressed fear that clearing the mines could enable Russia to attack the coast. Ukrainian officials said the Kremlin’s assurances that it wouldn’t do that cannot be trusted.

The 46th President blamed the lack of any progress on gun safety on intimidation by the gun lobby, as he called on voters to make it a deciding issue come November during his first in-person appearance on a late-night talk show.

Mr Biden, who is a Democrat, told Kimmel that the National Rifle Association has bullied Republicans into thinking that if they vote for the rational gun policy, they are going to be primaried.

He added that he is considering additional executive orders related to the issue but doesn’t want to emulate his predecessor’s (Donald Trump) use of the non-legislative strategy, calling it an “abuse of the Constitution”.

Mr Biden explained to Kimmel that he has issued executive orders “within the power of the presidency” regarding guns.

“But what I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution,” the President told Kimmel. “I often get asked, ‘look the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?’ Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy.”

Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Thursday as investors watched for fresh signs of inflation and crude oil prices hovered above $122 a barrel, adding to price pressures.

Benchmarks declined across the region, except in Tokyo, where a weakening yen sent issues of some Japanese exporters higher. Nintendo Co. issues surged 1.9% in afternoon trading, while Honda Motor Co. stocks gained more than 0.9%.

 

The Japanese yen has recently slid to fresh 20-year lows against the U.S. dollar, a trend the International Monetary Fund and other analysts expect to continue for a while because of higher interest rates in the U.S. and Europe, compared to Japan, where long-term interest rates remain at near-zero.

BARISHAL Sajid Javid pledges CovdiD Update BANGLADESH Online News 2023

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ackling trade deal with EU adds further pressure on prime minister after confidence vote Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis. right, has warned Boris Johnson, left, that hardliners in the loyalist DUP could resist a return to Stormont. © Pippa Fowles/No 10 Downing Street

Health and social care leadership in England will be overhauled after a review found evidence of bullying and blame cultures, Sajid Javid has said.

Following a series of damaging scandals at NHS trusts, the government said the report found "institutional inadequacy" in how managers are trained and valued.

The health secretary said the findings - to be published in full later - were "stark".

He earlier likened the NHS to the defunct Blockbuster video rental shop.

Downing Street said Mr Javid told cabinet colleagues the NHS was a "Blockbuster healthcare system in the age of Netflix".

"The NHS is absolutely fantastic, we all rely on it, but much of how it's set up is a still very much 1948, we need to be thinking about 2048 and how we get from here to the needs of the British population when it comes to health in 2048," Mr Javid later explained to MPs.

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting responded: "I think it's slightly absurd that 12 years into a government we have government ministers who talk in the biggest generalities without plans to deliver anything."

• Patients at risk due to NHS staff crisis, say nurses
• Bullying claims see staff shake-up
• Why the NHS is struggling like never before

Ahead of the full publication of the review into health management, the Department of Health and Social Care said in a press release that, while it highlighted instances of inspirational leadership, overall the report found "a lack of consistency and co-ordination".

It also said the report "identified a lack of equal opportunity for managers to access training and colleagues to progress in their careers, with those who have existing networks or contacts more likely to access these opportunities".

The review was headed by General Sir Gordon Messenger, a former vice chief of the defence staff who led the Royal Marines in the invasion of Iraq, and Dame Linda Pollard, chair of an NHS trust.

Mr Javid said: "The findings in this report are stark, it shows examples of great leadership but also where we need to urgently improve."

He fully supported the review's recommendations, which the government said include:

 

• action to improve equality, diversity and inclusion
• clear routes to progression and promotion
• a simplified appraisal system to focus on how people have behaved, not just what they have achieved
• the development of consistent management standards through accredited training
• encouraging the best leaders and managers to take on the most difficult roles, so they are seen as "the best jobs rather than the most feared jobs"

Ministers have their work cut out

The review's ideas for improving NHS and social care leadership in England seem to have been widely welcomed.

Few could disagree with the view that patient care will benefit from a well-led and motivated workforce and that staff should be empowered to develop their careers.

But how that will be achieved is another matter.

Persuading talented managers to take on the toughest roles in challenged areas won't be straightforward. Changing institutional culture will take a while.

The suggestion of discrimination and bullying at some organisations is concerning.

And as the King's Fund think tank notes, the report comes at a time of a workforce crisis with chronic staff shortages which have not yet been faced up to the government.

 

Ministers will have their work cut out to explain how this review will address the underlying problems of a health and care system under great strain.

NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard said: "As this report recognises, leaders across the health service do a fantastic job in often very challenging circumstances.

"The NHS is a learning organisation - we welcome this report and are determined to do all we can to ensure our leaders get the support they need".

Gen Messenger said the recommendations could transform leadership in the sector, adding: "A well-led, motivated, valued, collaborative, inclusive, resilient workforce is the key to better patient and public health outcomes, and must be a priority."

Meanwhile, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents health and care leaders, said the review had shown the need for more diverse leadership.

"We can't hide from the fact that all too often staff from ethnic minority backgrounds are still not being provided with the support they need to progress to leadership roles," he said.

The review into health service leadership follows a series of damaging scandals at NHS trusts.

About three weeks after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Indonesian housewife Liesye Setiana was forced to close her banana chip business as cooking oil supplies dried up across the country.

Millions of consumers and small business owners in the world's fourth most populous nation have been rattled for months by skyrocketing cooking oil prices.

As the war between the two major grain and sunflower seed producers sent jitters through global markets, many producers rushed to shift their goods abroad to cash in on soaring rates.

Setiana would travel to a supermarket over an hour from her remote East Java village of Baruharjo to buy a daily eight-litre batch of palm oil that could keep her business alive.

But the 49-year-old mother of two would be turned away, with sellers heavily rationing the commodity used in products ranging from cosmetics to chocolate spreads.

"I was fuming and told the employees that I really need the cooking oil for personal use, not for hoarding," said Setiana, who used to make up to 750,000 rupiah ($52) a day selling her savoury yellow snack.

© BAY ISMOYOAn employee prepares raw tempe, a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans, before being fried into chips

"How come we have cooking oil shortages when Indonesia is the world's top palm oil producer?"

Her battle for supplies is just a snapshot of the cooking oil crisis that has spurred hours-long queues of residents with jerry cans in hand across Indonesia's most populous island, Java, and others such as Borneo.

Two people died in March from exhaustion -- including one who had queued at three different supermarkets, according to local media -- as they waited in searing heat to get their hands on a product that rose to 20,100 rupiah a litre at its height.

© BAY ISMOYOThe owner of a home-based chips industry arranges her tempe chips, a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans in Jakarta

- Counting costs -

 

Indonesia produces about 60 percent of global palm oil supplies, with one-third consumed domestically. India, China, the European Union and Pakistan are among its major export customers.

The squeeze on cooking oil at home forced the Indonesian government to impose a now-lifted ban on exports last month, easing prices and shoring up domestic supplies.

But at the end of May, the price of bulk cooking oil, the most affordable in the country, still hovered at about 18,300 rupiah per litre on average, above the government's target of 14,000 rupiah, according to official data.

The price spike has left many with difficult decisions to make.

Sutaryo, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, runs a tempe chip business out of his home in South Jakarta. He was forced to jack up his prices and lay off four employees to stay afloat.

"After the surge of cooking oil prices, we have to be smart in calculating our production cost. Our consumers are left with no other choice but to accept a higher price for our kripik tempe," he said, referring to the traditional soy-based crackers.

With demand yet to recover, production at Sutaryo's home factory has slid from 300 to 100 kilogrammes a day, and daily revenue is down to six million rupiah from 15 million before the pandemic.

About half-a-dozen workers cut thin slices of tempe before throwing them into frying pans of hot oil, letting them sizzle until crispy.

It is a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the business's pre-pandemic peak, said Sutaryo, when he had workers frying tempe chips outside for lack of space.

In April, a damning report revealed catastrophic failings at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, where at least 201 babies and nine mothers might have survived with better maternity care. Last year, the care watchdog for England said patients' human rights may have been breached through "do not resuscitate" decisions made during Covid.

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Boris Johnson has been warned that his plan to rip up post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland will provoke a new row with Conservative MPs without necessarily restoring the region’s power-sharing executive. Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, has told the prime minister that the pro-UK Democratic Unionist party, which refused to join the executive after elections in May, has not agreed that it will begin the process of rejoining if the new legislation is published. Meanwhile Conservative whips, who enforce party discipline, have told Johnson, who survived a confidence vote among Tory MPs on Monday by 211 votes to 148, that party grandees will fight the passage of the bill through parliament. Separately the EU has said that if Johnson unilaterally rips up the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of his 2020 Brexit deal, British scientists will be locked out of the €95bn Horizon Europe research project. Ministers had planned to publish legislation overriding the protocol on Wednesday but government officials said that could slip into next week, as Johnson tries to stabilise his party after the damaging revolt by 41 per cent of his MPs. Johnson has argued that the high-stakes move is needed to help shore up the peace process in Northern Ireland. He hopes to persuade the DUP to return to Stormont to share power with Sinn Féin, the nationalist party that won last month’s elections. But Lewis has warned Johnson that hardliners in the DUP could resist a return to Stormont. “Brandon hasn’t definitively said they won’t go in, but we have no firm commitments,” said one official briefed on the discussions. “There are no guarantees. They are in a better place, but it remains to be seen what course of action they take.” Some in the DUP have argued the party should refuse to take part in the executive in the hope that this would lead to new elections, which could allow them to fare better. Failure to form an executive effectively paralyses government in the region. Theresa May, former prime minister, last month said Johnson should consider what the proposed Northern Ireland legislation would say about the UK’s “willingness to abide by treaties which it has signed”. Meanwhile Jesse Norman, the former Treasury minister, told Johnson this week that any breach of the Northern Irish protocol would be “economically very damaging, politically foolhardy and almost certainly illegal”. The bill will also run into fierce opposition from the pro-EU peers in the House of Lords, and the government could face a challenge over the legality of the bill under international law. The legislation will hand ministers powers to switch off parts of the controversial protocol, which creates a trade border in the Irish Sea in order to avoid the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. One senior Tory MP said: “This bill has law wobble, DUP wobble and party wobble.” Senior Whitehall insiders said Lewis had initially told Johnson that tabling the controversial Northern Ireland Bill would convince the DUP to at least agree that a Speaker be elected to the assembly, enabling caretaker ministers to take up their roles. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson © Brian Lawless/PA However, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, struck an uncompromising tone on Tuesday, writing in The News Letter, the region’s pro-Unionist newspaper, that if the issue of the protocol was not resolved, “then Northern Ireland would be without a devolved government”. A senior DUP insider added that Donaldson “felt under no pressure” to restore the region’s democratic institutions “until the protocol issue is dealt with”. The UK government has obtained legal advice arguing that the bill to override the protocol would be considered legal under international law, based on a higher obligation to protect the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, but that view is expected to be challenged.

Frends Venezuela's Guaido to Have PABNA Bogura Natore Rajib Kumar Covid Update

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Office of President of Ukraine)

The next winter would be very difficult for Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned during his nightly address on Tuesday.

"In the current situation due to Russia's aggression, this will indeed be the most difficult winter of all the years of independence," he said.

Zelensky said he had discussed in a meeting with government officials and representatives of the largest state-owned energy companies "setting up a headquarters to prepare for the next heating season.”

Former New Jersey state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. won the six-way GOP primary in the Garden State’s closely watched 7th Congressional District on Tuesday, setting up a November rematch with Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski.

With 66% of the expected vote in, Kean led the field with 45%, followed by Phil Rizzo, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in New Jersey’s 2021 gubernatorial race with 23% and District 23 Assemblyman Erik Peterson with 16% .

only makes those of us who are trying hard now to make Arthurdale a wonderful place and to preserve our history, but to me, all those people who came before us, it's a way that even though they're not here with us, it honors them, " said Darlene Bolyard, executive director.

Bolyard said she always tells people they can't forget the community members who sold hot dogs to raise funds to restore buildings or those whose husbands climbed and built roofs in the'70s and'80s.

"It was a really exceptional year for us, but again, success doesn't happen overnight, " Bolyard said. "It's longevity. It's endurance, it's perseverance. It's one of my favorite words, when I talk about Arthurdale—resilience and perseverance."

 

On its Facebook page, the association lists three accomplishments by Arthurdale: — The hosting of the Smithsonian exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America in December 2021 and January 2022, which drew hundreds of visitors and featured programs such as weaving, blacksmithing demonstrations and an exhibit on the Richard Mine. — When the Preston County Arts Council dissolved in 2021, Arthurdale absorbed the organization and began offering arts programming to both children and . — Arthurdale was selected as one of 11 sites for the Smithsonian's Coming Home program, which involved working with fourth-to-sixth-grade students on a community project.

Kean’s other challengers in the suburban district, which encompasses Hunterdon County, and parts of Essex, Morris, Somerset, Union, and Warren counties, included Township Mayor John Flora and businessman John Isemann.

National Republicans have eyed the 7th District as a potential pickup opportunity as they try to regain control of the House of Representatives after four years in the minority.

Malinowski, who is going for a third term in Congress, defeated Kean — the son of former New Jersey Republican Gov. Tom Kean Sr. — by just 1.2 percentage points in 2020.

Former state Sen. Tom Kean Jr. blasted President Joe Biden for causing inflation.

AP Photo/Mel Evans, File

Since then, Malinowski has faced repeated ethics complaints over his stock trades. In October of last year, the House Office of Congressional Ethics said there was “substantial reason to believe” he violated federal conflict-of-interest rules by failing to disclose dozens of share transactions during 2019 and 2020.

Malinowski has maintained his failure to come clean about the trades was a careless oversight.

He trounced challenger Roger Bacon Tuesday in the Democratic primary, earning 95% of the vote to Bacon’s 5% with a third of all polling precincts reporting when the race was called.

He said there are "issues of purchasing a sufficient amount of gas for the heating season, coal accumulation, and electricity production."
"At this time, we will not be selling our gas and coal abroad. All domestic production will be directed to the internal needs of our citizens," he added.

Ukraine's energy sources: Zelensky said that in light of "the historical accession of Ukraine to the unified energy network of Europe" it will be possible to reduce Russian energy consumption by the neighboring countries and increase Ukraine's "foreign exchange earnings."

Zelensky also said he was planning to repair heat and power plants damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks. "Implementation of this program in the coming months is one of the top tasks for the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine," he said.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido will speak to U.S. President Joe Biden over the phone during the Summit of the Americas this week, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said on Tuesday.

Guaido, who the White House recognizes as Venezuela's interim president, will not attend the summit in person, Nichols said in an interview with Mexican newspaper Milenio.

"I hate them": Ex-Russian president threatens to make unnamed enemies "disappear"

Bruno Mars just wants to keep the party going. After collecting one gilded gramophone after another for his hip-swaying hits — most recently as Silk Sonic with Anderson .Paak — the Grammy-winning musician aims to liven things up with his rum brand, SelvaRey.

Mars (né Peter Hernandez) is more than just a starry face of the spirits company. He co-owns the Los Angeles-based label, which was launched in 2014 by brothers Seth Gold (a former real estate developer) and Marc Gold (a journalist-turned-retail and restaurant entrepreneur) and their longtime friend, Robert Herzig (who previously worked in business development). The “Leave the Door Open” singer also brought on the rest of the Hooligans — his cohort of longtime musical collaborators — to back the brand.

From CNN's Mariya Knight, Zahid Mahmood and Zahra Ullah

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a profanity-laced Telegram post on Tuesday that his previous entries have been “harsh” because he hates “them” — without specifying who.

"I am often asked why my Telegram posts are so harsh. The answer is — I hate them," Medvedev said. "They're bastards and scum. They want to kill us, Russia. And as long as I'm alive, I'll do everything to make them disappear."

Who does he mean? Medvedev, currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, did not specify who he was referring to. However, he has previously been critical of Western government sanctions and responses to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Medvedev has previously warned the United States that Moscow has the "might to put all of our brash enemies in their place," has referred to Polish politicians as “imbeciles”, and slammed reports of war crimes in Bucha as Ukrainian propaganda

Democrat Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, will face Republican Chuck Grassley in the race for an Iowa U.S. Senate seat, winning his party nomination Tuesday over two competitors.

Franken beat former congresswoman Abby Finkenauer and physician Glenn Hurst and earned the right to run against Grassley, who is seeking an eighth Senate term and beat back a nominal primary challenge of his own on Tuesday.

shedding tears, Huth testified in a civil trial against Cosby on Tuesday that he molested her when she was 16. She claims Cosby tried to put his hand down her tight pants, exposed himself before he forced Huth to touch him sexually on a bed in a “blue room,” which she says was adjacent to the game room.

“He forced himself on me,” recalled Huth, whose testimony came in the Los Angeles County trial over a lawsuit she filed. Cosby denies her allegations.

“I was shocked to say the least,” she said.

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Huth, 64, said the incident happened after she and her high school friend, Donna Samuelson, accompanied Cosby on a visit to the mansion. She said he gave them a tour of the mansion and game room before they played some games including Donkey Kong, and she went to the restroom. She then said Cosby forced her to perform a sex act in the bedroom.

The trial represents one of the last remaining legal claims against Cosby after his Pennsylvania criminal conviction was thrown out by an appeals court last year, and his insurer settled many other lawsuits against his will. He is not attending the trial, and will not testify, but parts of a video deposition he gave shortly after the 2014 lawsuit was filed will be played.

During Huth’s testimony, she said Cosby kept pursuing her after she told him that she was “15 or 16” years old. She claims to have told Cosby that she was on her menstrual cycle – even though she was not – in hopes that he would stop.

“I was trying to deflect,” she said. “But he didn’t stop. I just closed my eyes. … It was so fast. Maybe five minutes. Quick.”

Afterwards, Huth said Cosby walked out the room before she ultimately followed him to the grotto area of the mansion, where both took a photo – which was shown in court. As Huth looked at the photo, she said felt “mad, duped and foolish.”

“I felt let down. I was hurt,” she said. The photo - which has been shown to jurors several times - has Cosby wearing a red beanie and smiling next to the teenage Huth.

 

Franken’s primary win is something of a surprise, given Finkenauer was better known throughout the state after her 2018 victory over a Republican congressman that made her the second-youngest woman elected to Congress. Finkenauer lost in a reelection bid in 2020 but was a frequent presence on cable television and raised millions of dollars toward her Senate run.

In his campaign, Franken emphasized a need to “dial down the political tension” in Washington. He also called for adding a public insurance option to the Affordable Care Act.

Joyce Mahl of Council Bluffs in western Iowa said she voted for Franken because she was unsure Iowans would vote for a Democratic woman in the general election, though Iowa has elected Democratic women, including Finkenauer, to Congress. Mahl’s top priority is a candidate she views as stronger against Grassley.

“If you want Grassley out, you’ve got to vote for the one that you think can beat him,” Mahl, 66, said after voting at a downtown Council Bluffs church.

Franken will nonetheless face stiff headwinds going into the general election against Grassley, who has served seven terms. A state that Democrat Barack Obama won in two presidential elections has steadily shifted to the right in recent years, part of a broader transformation that has spread through the Northern Plains that has made it increasingly difficult for Democrats to compete statewide.

A well-known state lawmaker before she served a single term in the U.S. House, Finkenauer is one of the most prominent Democrats in Iowa.

Mark Hollander, 47, a marketing professional from West Des Moines said he voted for Abby Finkenauer in part because of her background in Congress, but also because she represents a new generation. Finkenauer stressed limiting the number of terms a member of the Senate can serve.

“I do agree with her on term limits,” Hollander said. “I feel that Grassley has not been especially effective in the last decade-plus and has turned more obstructionist at this point.”

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But Finkenauer’s campaign faced an unexpected stumble in April when she nearly didn’t make the primary ballot. Republican activists claimed she hadn’t gathered enough signatures from enough counties. A district judge ruled Finkenauer hadn’t qualified for the ballot, a ruling she called “deeply partisan.” The Iowa Supreme Court overruled that decision and allowed her to run.

Still, the episode turned off a number of veteran state Democratic activists, former candidates and officeholders, prompting some to give Franken a second look. He posted stronger first-quarter fundraising figures than Finkenauer and earned endorsements from some well-known former Finkenauer supporters bothered by her declining to accept responsibility for the filing mistakes.

Grassley, from New Hartford in northern Iowa, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980 after serving three terms in the U.S. House.

Bangladesh Online Dhaka Electronic Warfare Turns Raju Sarkar Zonal Officer 2022

 federal judge is considering whether to postpone the execution of an Arizona prisoner who argues the state’s death penalty procedures would violate his rights by subjecting him to unimaginable pain.

Attorneys for Frank Atwood said their client would undergo excruciating suffering if he were strapped to the execution gurney while lying on his back because he has a degenerative spinal condition that has left him in a wheelchair. Atwood is scheduled to be lethally injected Wednesday for his murder conviction in the 1984 killing of 8-year-old Vicki Hoskinson.

At a court hearing Friday, Atwood's lawyers questioned whether the compounded pentobarbital to be used in the execution meets pharmaceutical standards and whether the state has met a requirement that the drug’s expiration date falls after the execution date. They also are challenging Arizona’s protocol for gas chamber executions.

Prosecutors say Atwood is trying to indefinitely postpone his execution through legal maneuvers

Two weeks ago, Atwood declined to choose between lethal injection or the gas chamber, leaving him to be put to death by lethal injection, the state’s default execution method.

Even though he didn’t pick the gas chamber, he is still challenging the state’s lethal gas protocol that calls for the use of hydrogen cyanide gas, which was used in some past U.S. executions and by Nazis to kill 865,000 Jews at the Auschwitz concentration camp alone. His lawyers say hydrogen cyanide gas is unconstitutional and produces agonizing levels of pain in executions.

Without explicitly saying Atwood wants to die by the gas chamber, his lawyers argue he has a right to choose between methods of execution that are constitutional and said the state should switch its lethal gas from hydrogen cyanide gas to nitrogen gas because nitrogen would produce painless deaths.

“They could do that tomorrow,” Joseph Perkovich, one of Atwood’s attorneys, said about nitrogen gas.

Arizona, California, Missouri and Wyoming are the only states with decades-old lethal-gas execution laws still on the books. Arizona, which carried out the last gas chamber execution in the United States more than two decades ago, is the only state to still have a working gas chamber.

In recent years, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama have passed laws allowing executions with nitrogen gas, at least in some circumstances, though experts say it has never been done and no state has established a protocol that would allow it.

Atwood’s lawyers also said Arizona could take up executions by firing squad -- a method of execution not used in the state.

Prosecutors say Atwood’s challenge is not aimed at minimizing the pain he will feel when he is put to death, but rather to delay the execution indefinitely by requesting alternative methods of execution that he knows the state is unable to provide without changes to its execution protocol and the state constitution.

Prosecutors say Atwood can alleviate pain caused by lying on his back by propping himself up with a pillow and using the tilt function on the execution table. They say he will be allowed to continue taking pain medications and will be provided a mild sedative before his execution.

Arizona prosecutors also said nitrogen gas remains untested in executions and that Atwood’s attorneys hadn’t established that nitrogen gas or a firing squad would reduce the risk of severe pain.

Jeffrey Sparks, a lawyer for the state, argued Atwood’s legal claims about lethal gas are moot, saying the execution will be carried out by lethal injection.

 

Authorities have said Atwood kidnapped Hoskinson, whose remains were discovered in the desert northwest of Tucson nearly seven months after her disappearance. Experts could not determine the cause of death from the remains that were found, according to court records.

Atwood maintains that he is innocent.

Last week, a federal appeals court denied a request by Atwood’s lawyers to make new arguments in a bid to overturn his death sentence.

Atwood’s lawyers have said that last summer they discovered an FBI memo describing an anonymous caller claiming to have seen the girl in a vehicle not associated with Atwood, but which could be linked to a woman. A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said it couldn’t conclude that the disclosure of the unreported anonymous call would have had any effect on Atwood’s trial and conviction.

On Friday, Atwood’s lawyers also asked the Arizona Supreme Court to stay his execution, making similar arguments about what they said was new evidence of his innocence related to the woman.

Mexico’s president has claimed the leftist candidate in Colombia’s presidential race faces “a dirty war” by “conservatives,” leading the Colombian government to tell President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Friday to stay out of its domestic politics.

López Obrador makes a big point of saying he doesn’t interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and has used that as an excuse to avoid criticizing non-democratic regimes like Nicaragua and Cuba.

But on Friday López Obrador blasted the opposition to front-running presidential candidate, the leftist Gustavo Petro. López Obrador claimed Petro faces a scare campaign, trying to depict him as dangerous radical, something similar to a campaign used against López Obrador in a failed presidential bid in 2006.

“I want to say I'm sending a hug to Petro,” López Obrador. “Why a hug? Because he is facing a dirty war of the most cowardly and undignified kind, everything we suffered in Mexico. All the conservatives are united, unethically."

Colombia's foreign relations ministry shot back on its social media accounts, saying the Mexican president's comments were “an offensive interference in our country's internal affairs.”

“We ask him to respect the autonomy of the Colombian people to choose their next president without interferences that try to influence voters,” the ministry wrote.

Last week Colombian voters chose Sen. Petro, a former rebel, to run in a second round against real estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernández, an outsider populist businessman.

Petro led the field of six candidates Sunday with just over 40% of the votes, while Hernández, who has no close ties to any political parties, finished second with more than 28%.

The petition for information about Daniel Defense, the Georgia-based company that made the firearm, was filed Thursday, according to court papers obtained by NBC News. The filing was on behalf of Emilia Marin, a staff member who had been outside bringing food into Robb Elementary School for an end-of-year party on May 24 when she saw a car crash, her attorney, Don Flanary, told NBC News.

 

Flanary said Marin went inside to grab her cellphone to call 911 about the crash. As she was on the phone with 911, she went back outside and saw the 18-year-old gunman hopping a fence, coming toward the school with a weapon strapped across his chest.

The Justice Department has declined to prosecute two of Donald Trump’s closest White House advisers — former chief of staff Mark Meadows and social media director Dan Scavino — for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee, rejecting the House’s recommendation that the pair be charged with contempt of Congress.

Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., delivered the news to House Counsel Douglas Letter earlier Friday, according to a person familiar with the correspondence.

After earlier failing to topple Ukraine's government, Russia's military has focused its offensive on the country's eastern Donbas region, which is home to a large population of Russian speakers. New reporting shows Russian forces are increasingly intercepting the Ukrainian military's communications while jamming navigation and guidance systems.

"They are jamming everything their systems can reach," an official with the Aerorozvidka, a Ukrainian agency that develops unmanned aerial vehicles and other military capabilities, told the Associated Press in a report published Friday. "We can't say they dominate, but they hinder us greatly."