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  • New international partnerships needed to boost healthcare in Syria – UN News

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    As the protracted conflict in Syria continues to push millions deeper into poverty and increase their vulnerability to health risks, UN agencies and their partners met on Friday to spur action to revitalize the country’s embattled healthcare system. 
    The online meeting was held ahead of a European Union conference next week to ensure ongoing international support for Syria and neighbouring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees. 
    11 years of suffering and a humanitarian crisis endured by over 15 million of our fellow humans in Syria, increasing by the day, with no foreseeable end in sight.

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    The needs inside Syria are staggering. This year, 12.2 million people will require health services, including some 4.4 million who are internally displaced, according to an emergency appeal launched by the World Health Organization (WHO).   
    “The delivery of health services to those most in need remains extremely challenging; not only due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also because more than half the healthcare facilities have closed or function partially,” said Dr. Akjamal Makhtumova, the agency’s Representative to Syria.  
    WHO hosted the virtual meeting, together with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). 
    Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Director of WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, said keeping global attention on Syria can be a challenge, given that the war has raged for more than a decade and other crises continue to emerge, including the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict. 
    “While it’s true – television crews that once documented children pulled from rubble and hospitals bombed into ruins aren’t documenting Syria’s plight as they once were – the suffering of the Syrian people still exists,” he said. 
    Dr. Al-Mandhari recently concluded a mission to Syria.  He shared heartbreaking examples of suffering, including the story of a single mother of two blind boys who waited two years for heart surgery. 
    Syria has lost over half of its medical professionals since the war started, and hospital equipment is stretched. 
    Dr. Al-Mandhari said WHO is collaborating with partners “to heal Syria and empower it to become a country of peace and prosperity – to build resilient communities, protect health rights and reduce social inequities”. 
    He underscored how improving health in Syria aligns with global efforts to achieve sustainable development that benefits all people and the planet. 
    This requires new international cooperation that would sustain both the resilience and health of the Syrian people, with focus placed on areas such as investment, knowledge sharing, policy and legislation. 
    “Equitable and peaceful future of Syria depends on the renewed commitment of the international community, member states and partners,” he said.  “We need new multilateralism towards attaining health for the people of Syria and ensuring social and economic stability, and shared prosperity.”  
    While acknowledging the enormous needs and suffering, Dr. Al-Mandhari said he returned from Syria with optimism, pointing to signs of resilience and hope. 
    “Despite scarce financial and human resources, I also saw medical professionals moving mountains to serve their people. Despite the pain I felt, I met the wonderful people behind these devastating numbers,” he said. 
    Let us not forget the Syrian people. Let us end their suffering. Let us give them our attention, especially now when the declining socio-economic situation has left millions in need for help.”
    Although the war in Syria may not be making headlines lately, the international community must remain focused on achieving a comprehensive political solution to the conflict, UN Envoy for the country, Geir Pedersen, said on Tuesday in his latest briefing to the Security Council in New York. 

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  • Fawns rescued during marijuana raid – Medford News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News – Mail Tribune

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    Police have gotten used to finding guns, exploited workers and illegally diverted water when raiding marijuana grows in Southern Oregon. This time they found two caged fawns.
    Events leading to the rescue of the fawns unfolded Friday when Medford Police Department executed a search warrant in the 3000 block of Quartz Creek Road in Josephine County while looking for stolen property.
    They discovered 4,800 illegal marijuana plants in multiple greenhouses at the site, plus approximately 500 pounds of processed marijuana in a home, according to the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office.
    Medford police contacted the Josephine County Marijuana Enforcement Team to inform the team of their discovery. Multiple individuals fled the scene before they could be detained, the sheriff’s office said.
    The team arrived and seized and destroyed the marijuana plants and processed marijuana. While on the scene, the team also found two fawns confined in a cage. The team dismantled the cage so the fawns could be released, the sheriff’s office said.
    Law enforcement consulted by phone with Mathew Vargas, a wildlife conflict biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Rogue District. Vargas said Oregon State Police wildlife troopers were on the scene to assist, as well.
    “We don’t know why the fawns were there,” Vargas said. “When the site got raided, everybody disappeared. There was no one to talk to. They were left with the mystery of these two little fawns.”
    Vargas said workers at the marijuana grow probably found the fawns hiding on the property and decided to take the babies to help them or keep them as pets. It’s something he sees too often this time of year when fawns are newly born.
    After giving birth, does leave their fawns hidden in grass or the woods for hours at a time while foraging for food. The does come back to nurse their young, then leave again.
    “Fawns are very small and bony when they’re first born,” Vargas said. “They’re not malnourished. They lay very flat and very still. They don’t move a muscle. Even if you pick them up, their legs and head will droop like they have no energy. It’s a defense mechanism.”
    He said the best thing people can do when they find a fawn is to leave it alone.
    “If you see one, just back out. It’s cool. The mom will come back when it’s dark,” he said.
    After getting the fawns out of the cage, Vargas said law enforcement left the animals under a tree. Once the scene quieted down, the mother probably found her babies, he said.
    “At that age, they’re still reliant on their mother’s milk. Based on their size, they weren’t very old. It means they probably weren’t held long. Their mother was probably still in the area. Hopefully they’ve rejoined her,” he said.
    Vargas estimated the fawns were less than 48 hours old. Fawns don’t start walking around with their moms until they’re about two to three weeks old, he said.
    If the fawns hadn’t been discovered during the marijuana raid and released, Vargas said they would have faced a grim fate. Fawns don’t do well when humans take them from the wild, even if people have good intentions.
    “They kidnap them and take them back home. It almost always ends in the fawn succumbing to malnutrition, disease or stress. They almost never survive when humans get involved,” Vargas said.
    He noted it’s illegal to remove fawns from the wild.
    Vargas said he’s glad to use the news of the fawns’ rescue as an opportunity to remind the public of the importance of leaving baby wild animals alone.
    “Any chance we can get to spread the word to leave them be, we’ll take it,” he said.
    Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or valdous@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.
    © 2022 Mail Tribune

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  • Canada provides funding to International Criminal Court to strengthen accountability for conflict-related sexual violence – World – ReliefWeb

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    May 26, 2022 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
    The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada will be providing additional funding to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to strengthen accountability for conflict-related sexual violence.
    Canada recognizes that justice requires resources. That is why, through the Canadian Police Arrangement, Canada has authorized additional deployments of specialized police investigators and civilian law enforcement experts to the ICC from 3 to 10 officers. A voluntary financial contribution of $1 million to the Trust Fund will complement Canada’s support to the ICC and will allow the ICC to redirect much-needed resources to support the investigation of reported atrocities committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine.
    These new Canadian funds will be used to support both witnesses and survivors, as well as to develop expertise on gender-based crimes and crimes committed against children.
    “Those who commit sexual violence in conflict situations must be held to account. Canada condemns in the strongest terms the use of conflict-related sexual violence, and we will continue to work with partners, such as the ICC, to end impunity for these heinous crimes.”
    Quick facts
    To respect the independence and impartiality of the ICC and its proceedings, resources will be allocated to specific investigations determined by the prosecutor of the ICC.
    The Trust Fund supports the use of new advanced technological tools and equipment in the collection, analysis and language-processing of evidence, the provision of enhanced psychosocial and protection support to witnesses and the enhancement of dedicated and specialized capacity with respect to investigations into crimes of sexual and gender-based violence and crimes against children.
    Canada is making a voluntary contribution of $1 million to complement its deployment of up to 10 Canadian specialized police investigators and civilian law enforcement experts.
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    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
    Adrien.Blanchard@international.gc.ca
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    Global Affairs Canada
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  • Five MNUFC Players Called Up for International Duty – Minnesota United FC

    Minnesota United announced today that five players have been called up to their respective national teams for the June international window.
    Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair is back with the Canada National Team as it begins the month with a friendly versus Iran on June 5. From there, Canada will play two matches as part of the CONCACAF Nations League first taking on Curacao on June 9 followed by an away match with Honduras on June 13. St. Clair’s first call up to the senior team was in January of 2021 and he made his senior national team debut last summer in World Cup Qualifiers with a 7-0 shutout win over Aruba.
    Michael Boxall joins the New Zealand National team after missing the last tour in March. Boxall and the New Zealand National Team will compete in one international friendly before finishing their World Cup Qualifying journey. The friendly is set for June 5 versus Peru and their final World Cup Qualifier is slated for June 14 against Costa Rica.
    Fresh off becoming the Loons all-time leading goal scorer in MLS regular season play, midfielder Robin Lod will once again join the Finland National Team. Lod will be busy as Finland is scheduled to play four matches in the UEFA Nations League. Finland begins play on June 4 versus Bosnia & Herzegovina and will also wrap play against Bosnia & Herzegovina on June 14. In between those matches are contests versus Montenegro on June 7 and against Romania on June 11.
    Kervin Arriaga returns to the Honduras National Team for its round of contests in the CONCACAF Nations League. Arriaga will have a chance to face-off against his Minnesota United teammate Dayne St. Clair and the Canada National Team on June 13.
    Recent MNUFC2 signee, Molik Jesse Khan, will join the Trinidad & Tobago National Team for its round of the CONCACAF Nations League. Khan is one the youngest members of the Trinidad and Tobago National Team, making his senior international debut as a sub in a friendly against Bolivia at 17 years old. At just 18 years old, Khan has already performed the on international stage with appearances in FIFA Friendlies and in the CONCACAF U15 Championship.

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  • Three workers hurt in South Boston construction site collapse – Boston 25 News

    Three workers hurt in South Boston construction site collapse
    BOSTON — Three workers were injured in a collapse at a construction site in South Boston.
    Boston Fire Commissioner Jack Dempsey said emergency crews were called to the Edison Power Plant building around 1:40 p.m. Two of the injured workers were able to be removed immediately.
    A third person was trapped, prompting a rescue operation with about 100 firefighters in support roles, Dempsey said.
    Dempsey said the worker had part of a wall leaning on his lower legs. He was freed after more than three hours and taken to the hospital.
    Boston Police Sergeant John Boyle confirmed with Boston 25 News that the injuries of all three victims, whom authorities haven’t named, are now considered non-life-threatening.
    “Demolition drops are very dangerous. Probably more dangerous than putting buildings up,” Dempsey said.
    Dempsey said that the building at 776 Summer Street is old and has experienced other problems over time.
    “We’ve had a lot of serious problems with this building over the years,” he said. “I recall way back, we had a nine-alarm fire here, so this is nothing new to us.”
    Suffolk Construction, the company responsible for the demolition, said the collapse involved a catwalk.
    “Our thoughts are with the individuals who were injured, along with their families,” a spokesperson for the company said. “We are currently on-site working closely with OSHA, our subcontractor and the local authorities to determine the cause of this incident and confirm the safety of the site. Safety on our job sites continues to be our number one priority and we will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure our workers return home safely at the end of every workday.”
    Hilco Redevelopment Partners, which owns the site, thanked first responders for their quick response.
    “The safety of the workers on-site and in the surrounding areas is our top priority,” a spokesperson for the company said.
    The construction site is being developed by Hilco as retail, housing, and commercial space called L Street Station.
    “This 1.68 million square foot mixed-use development project will bring new energy to the Boston Harbor waterfront, adding jobs and creating new community open space for the South Boston neighborhood. The project includes new retail, housing and commercial space using best-in-class environmental sustainability standards and incorporates a resilient site design that will create nearly 6 acres of open space throughout the site, including a new 2.5-acre public park along the waterfront,” according to the company’s website.
    Mayor Michelle Wu said the city is “pausing permits and making sure there is a full investigation.”
    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened inspections with three employers at the site, including Suffolk Construction, Northstar Contracting Group, Inc, and TRC Companies.
    The investigation remains ongoing.
    ‘Multiple’ people trapped after reported collapse at construction site in South Boston ‘Multiple’ people trapped after reported collapse at construction site in South Boston

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  • Exclusive: Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows – POLITICO

    Exclusive
    “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Justice Alito writes in an initial majority draft circulated inside the court.
    Abortion rights supporters and anti-abortion demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 1, 2021. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
    By Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward
    05/02/2022 08:32 PM EDT
    Updated: 05/03/2022 02:14 PM EDT
    Link Copied
    The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO.
    The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
    “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
    Deliberations on controversial cases have in the past been fluid. Justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled. The court’s holding will not be final until it is published, likely in the next two months.
    The immediate impact of the ruling as drafted in February would be to end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide whether to restrict or ban abortion. It’s unclear if there have been subsequent changes to the draft.
    No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending. The unprecedented revelation is bound to intensify the debate over what was already the most controversial case on the docket this term.
    The draft opinion offers an extraordinary window into the justices’ deliberations in one of the most consequential cases before the court in the last five decades. Some court-watchers predicted that the conservative majority would slice away at abortion rights without flatly overturning a 49-year-old precedent. The draft shows that the court is looking to reject Roe’s logic and legal protections.
    Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”

    Justice Samuel Alito in an initial draft majority opinion
    A person familiar with the court’s deliberations said that four of the other Republican-appointed justices — Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — had voted with Alito in the conference held among the justices after hearing oral arguments in December, and that line-up remains unchanged as of this week.
    The three Democratic-appointed justices — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — are working on one or more dissents, according to the person. How Chief Justice John Roberts will ultimately vote, and whether he will join an already written opinion or draft his own, is unclear.
    The document, labeled as a first draft of the majority opinion, includes a notation that it was circulated among the justices on Feb. 10. If the Alito draft is adopted, it would rule in favor of Mississippi in the closely watched case over that state’s attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
    On Tuesday, after this article was published, Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion and said he was ordering an investigation into the disclosure.
    “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” Roberts pledged in a written statement. “This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.”
    Roberts also stressed that the draft opinion “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.” The court spokesperson had declined comment pre-publication.
    Supreme Court
    By Josh Gerstein
    POLITICO received a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document. The draft opinion runs 98 pages, including a 31-page appendix of historical state abortion laws. The document is replete with citations to previous court decisions, books and other authorities, and includes 118 footnotes. The appearances and timing of this draft are consistent with court practice.
    The disclosure of Alito’s draft majority opinion — a rare breach of Supreme Court secrecy and tradition around its deliberations — comes as all sides in the abortion debate are girding for the ruling. Speculation about the looming decision has been intense since the December oral arguments indicated a majority was inclined to support the Mississippi law.
    Under long-standing court procedures, justices hold preliminary votes on cases shortly after argument and assign a member of the majority to write a draft of the court’s opinion. The draft is often amended in consultation with other justices, and in some cases the justices change their votes altogether, creating the possibility that the current alignment on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization could change.
    The chief justice typically assigns majority opinions when he is in the majority. When he is not, that decision is typically made by the most senior justice in the majority.
    A George W. Bush appointee who joined the court in 2006, Alito argues that the 1973 abortion rights ruling was an ill-conceived and deeply flawed decision that invented a right mentioned nowhere in the Constitution and unwisely sought to wrench the contentious issue away from the political branches of government.
    Alito’s draft ruling would overturn a decision by the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the Mississippi law ran afoul of Supreme Court precedent by seeking to effectively ban abortions before viability.
    Roe’s “survey of history ranged from the constitutionally irrelevant to the plainly incorrect,” Alito continues, adding that its reasoning was “exceptionally weak,” and that the original decision has had “damaging consequences.”
    “The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions,” Alito writes.
    Alito approvingly quotes a broad range of critics of the Roe decision. He also points to liberal icons such as the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, who at certain points in their careers took issue with the reasoning in Roe or its impact on the political process.
    Alito’s skewering of Roe and the endorsement of at least four other justices for that unsparing critique is also a measure of the court’s rightward turn in recent decades. Roe was decided 7-2 in 1973, with five Republican appointees joining two justices nominated by Democratic presidents.
    The overturning of Roe would almost immediately lead to stricter limits on abortion access in large swaths of the South and Midwest, with about half of the states set to immediately impose broad abortion bans. Any state could still legally allow the procedure.
    Supreme Court
    By POLITICO Staff
    “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” the draft concludes. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
    The draft contains the type of caustic rhetorical flourishes Alito is known for and that has caused Roberts, his fellow Bush appointee, some discomfort in the past.
    At times, Alito’s draft opinion takes an almost mocking tone as it skewers the majority opinion in Roe, written by Justice Harry Blackmun, a Richard Nixon appointee who died in 1999.
    Roe expressed the ‘feel[ing]’ that the Fourteenth Amendment was the provision that did the work, but its message seemed to be that the abortion right could be found somewhere in the Constitution and that specifying its exact location was not of paramount importance,” Alito writes.
    Alito declares that one of the central tenets of Roe, the “viability” distinction between fetuses not capable of living outside the womb and those which can, “makes no sense.”
    supreme court
    By Josh Gerstein
    In several passages, he describes doctors and nurses who terminate pregnancies as “abortionists.”
    When Roberts voted with liberal jurists in 2020 to block a Louisiana law imposing heavier regulations on abortion clinics, his solo concurrence used the more neutral term “abortion providers.” In contrast, Justice Clarence Thomas used the word “abortionist” 25 times in a solo dissent in the same case.
    Alito’s use of the phrase “egregiously wrong” to describe Roe echoes language Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart used in December in defending his state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The phrase was also contained in an opinion Kavanaugh wrote as part of a 2020 ruling that jury convictions in criminal cases must be unanimous.
    In that opinion, Kavanaugh labeled two well-known Supreme Court decisions “egregiously wrong when decided”: the 1944 ruling upholding the detention of Japanese Americans during World War II, Korematsu v. United States, and the 1896 decision that blessed racial segregation under the rubric of “separate but equal,” Plessy v. Ferguson.
    The high court has never formally overturned Korematsu, but did repudiate the decision in a 2018 ruling by Roberts that upheld then-President Donald Trump’s travel ban policy.
    Plessy remained the law of the land for nearly six decades until the court overturned it with the Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation ruling in 1954.
    Quoting Kavanaugh, Alito writes of Plessy: “It was ‘egregiously wrong,’ on the day it was decided.”
    Alito’s draft opinion includes, in small type, a list of about two pages’ worth of decisions in which the justices overruled prior precedents — in many instances reaching results praised by liberals.
    The implication that allowing states to outlaw abortion is on par with ending legal racial segregation has been hotly disputed. But the comparison underscores the conservative justices’ belief that Roe is so flawed that the justices should disregard their usual hesitations about overturning precedent and wholeheartedly renounce it.
    Alito’s draft opinion ventures even further into this racially sensitive territory by observing in a footnote that some early proponents of abortion rights also had unsavory views in favor of eugenics.
    “Some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population,” Alito writes. “It is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect. A highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are black.”
    Alito writes that by raising the point he isn’t casting aspersions on anyone. “For our part, we do not question the motives of either those who have supported and those who have opposed laws restricting abortion,” he writes.
    Alito also addresses concern about the impact the decision could have on public discourse. “We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public’s reaction to our work,” Alito writes. “We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision overruling Roe and Casey. And even if we could foresee what will happen, we would have no authority to let that knowledge influence our decision.”
    In the main opinion in the 1992 Casey decision, Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter warned that the court would pay a “terrible price” for overruling Roe, despite criticism of the decision from some in the public and the legal community.
    “While it has engendered disapproval, it has not been unworkable,” the three justices wrote then. “An entire generation has come of age free to assume Roe‘s concept of liberty in defining the capacity of women to act in society, and to make reproductive decisions; no erosion of principle going to liberty or personal autonomy has left Roe‘s central holding a doctrinal remnant.”
    When Dobbs was argued in December, Roberts seemed out of sync with the other conservative justices, as he has been in a number of cases including one challenging the Affordable Care Act.
    At the argument session last fall, Roberts seemed to be searching for a way to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week ban without completely abandoning the Roe framework.
    “Viability, it seems to me, doesn’t have anything to do with choice. But, if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?” Roberts asked during the arguments. “The thing that is at issue before us today is 15 weeks.”
    While Alito’s draft opinion doesn’t cater much to Roberts’ views, portions of it seem intended to address the specific interests of other justices. One passage argues that social attitudes toward out-of-wedlock pregnancies “have changed drastically” since the 1970s and that increased demand for adoption makes abortion less necessary.
    Those points dovetail with issues that Barrett — a Trump appointee and the court’s newest member — raised at the December arguments. She suggested laws allowing people to surrender newborn babies on a no-questions-asked basis mean carrying a pregnancy to term doesn’t oblige one to engage in child rearing.
    “Why don’t the safe haven laws take care of that problem?” asked Barrett, who adopted two of her seven children.
    Much of Alito’s draft is devoted to arguing that widespread criminalization of abortion during the 19th and early 20th century belies the notion that a right to abortion is implied in the Constitution.
    The conservative justice attached to his draft a 31-page appendix listing laws passed to criminalize abortion during that period. Alito claims “an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment…from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”
    “Until the latter part of the 20th century, there was no support in American law for a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. Zero. None. No state constitutional provision had recognized such a right,” Alito adds.
    Alito’s draft argues that rights protected by the Constitution but not explicitly mentioned in it — so-called unenumerated rights — must be strongly rooted in U.S. history and tradition. That form of analysis seems at odds with several of the court’s recent decisions, including many of its rulings backing gay rights.
    “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….”

    Justice Samuel Alito in an initial draft majority opinion

    Liberal justices seem likely to take issue with Alito’s assertion in the draft opinion that overturning Roe would not jeopardize other rights the courts have grounded in privacy, such as the right to contraception, to engage in private consensual sexual activity and to marry someone of the same sex.
    “We emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” Alito writes. “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”
    Alito’s draft opinion rejects the idea that abortion bans reflect the subjugation of women in American society. “Women are not without electoral or political power,” he writes. “The percentage of women who register to vote and cast ballots is consistently higher than the percentage of men who do so.”
    The Supreme Court remains one of Washington’s most secretive institutions, priding itself on protecting the confidentiality of its internal deliberations.
    “At the Supreme Court, those who know don’t talk, and those who talk don’t know,” Ginsburg was fond of saying.
    That tight-lipped reputation has eroded somewhat in recent decades due to a series of books by law clerks, law professors and investigative journalists. Some of these authors clearly had access to draft opinions such as the one obtained by POLITICO, but their books emerged well after the cases in question were resolved.
    The justices held their final arguments of the current term on Wednesday. The court has set a series of sessions over the next two months to release rulings in its still-unresolved cases, including the Mississippi abortion case.
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    © 2022 POLITICO LLC

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  • Sakar International Recalls Dimensions Bluetooth Speaker Multi-Purpose Helmets Due to Risk of Head Injury; Sold Exclusively at Walmart – Consumer Product Safety Commission

    The recalled helmets do not comply with the U.S. CPSC federal safety standard for bicycle helmets, posing a risk of head injury in a fall.
    About 89,000 (In addition, 272 in Canada)
    Sakar at 800-592-9541 anytime, email at support@sakar.com, or online at https://www.vivitar.com/pages/recalls or www.vivitar.com and click on “Recalls” at the bottom of the page.
    This recall involves Dimensions Bluetooth Speaker multi-purpose helmets.  The helmets are black with black straps and a black buckle.  The white label on the inside of the helmet contains the Item # ACTGEAR-238BTS in the bottom left corner.
    Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled helmets and contact Sakar for instructions on receiving a free replacement helmet. Consumers should not return the helmet to Walmart and should contact Sakar for a free replacement and to facilitate returns using prepaid postage packaging. Walmart will contact all known purchasers.
    None reported
    A software malfunction in the electrical system can continue to provide assistance to the motor, causing continued momentum, when the rider is not actively controlling the hoverboard, posing fall and injury hazards.
    The recalled vehicles can have a damaged fuel tank causing fuel to leak, posing fire and explosion hazards.
    The latch mechanism that holds the battery in place can malfunction, causing the battery to dislodge from the frame and fall to the ground, posing a fall hazard to the rider.  Additionally, the latch spring can cause additional wear on the battery housing over time, posing a fire hazard.
    The recalled recumbent trikes front axles were improperly assembled during manufacturing. The axles can come loose during use, causing the rider to lose control, posing crash and injury hazards.
    An incorrectly routed battery cable can contact the prop shaft during use, which can result in an electrical short, posing a fire hazard.
    The gear shift assembly can detach from the crankcase, resulting in unintentional gear shifting, posing a crash hazard.  
    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years.
    Federal law prohibits any person from selling products subject to a Commission ordered recall or a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with the CPSC.
    U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
    4330 East-West Highway Bethesda, MD 20814
    Contact Us: 800-638-2772 (TTY 800-638-8270)
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  • International Day of UN Peacekeepers – United States Department of State – Department of State

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    Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
    May 27, 2022
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    The world marks International Day of UN Peacekeepers every May 29, and on this day we honor the courage, service, and sacrifice of the UN’s “blue helmets.”
    Since the first mission in 1948, more than a million women and men have served in UN peacekeeping operations, helping people recover, rebuild, and remain safe after periods of conflict.  There are currently 12 UN peacekeeping operations around the world and nearly 90,000 personnel serving the cause of peace, reconciliation, and durable political solutions.
    Unfortunately, UN peacekeepers too often sacrifice their lives for the cause of peace, and today we pause to express our deep gratitude to the more than 4,000 peacekeepers who have died during their service over the past seven decades, 135 of them last year alone.
    UN peacekeeping is one of the most effective international tools for promoting peace and security and protecting the world’s most vulnerable populations.  That is why the United States supports UN peacekeeping and is dedicated to promoting greater safety, security, performance, conduct, and accountability.  Peacekeeping is a shared responsibility that benefits all nations and peoples, and the United States will continue to be its leading supporter and proponent.

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  • Breaking News, May 9 | LIVE UPDATES – India TV News

    Breaking News, May 9 | LIVE UPDATES
    Hello and welcome to India TV Digital’s coverage of all the breaking news coming across from India and the world. Stay home, stay safe, and stay informed as our team of dedicated editors/reporters bring you the latest news photos, videos, views and top stories from politics, sports, education, science, entertainment, lifestyle, yoga, and much more from India and worldwide.
    Latest India News
    In what could further dampen the mood of crypto investors in the country, the goods and services tax (GST) council is mulling a 28 per cent tax on cryptocurrencies, at par with the current GST on casinos, betting and lottery, multiple media reports claimed on Monday.
    A blast has been reported in Punjab Police Intelligence office headquarters located in Mohali, while the cause is still unknown. Buildings nearby have also been affected, reports said. The building is located near the Suhana Saheb Gurudwara. 
    Further details are awaited. 
    Severe cyclonic storm Asani packing gale-force winds up to 120 kmph which is moving towards the east coast bringing along heavy rain, is likely to recurve in a north-northeastward direction on reaching near the shore and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm, the Met office said on Monday.
    Coming close to North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts, it is likely to turn into a cyclonic storm by Tuesday night.
    A 24-year-old woman was set on fire on Monday — two days before her wedding — allegedly by a jilted lover in Farrukhnagar area here, police said. The woman was rushed to a private hospital and is critical with over 50 percent burn while the accused is absconding, they said. The victim’s father moved to the police claiming the accused broke into their house and set his daughter on fire.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on May 13 virtually launch the Madhya Pradesh government’s new startup policy aimed at encouraging budding entrepreneurs in the state, an official said on Monday.
    A 24-year-old man and his one-and-half-year-old son were killed and his wife seriously injured on Monday when their motorcycle collided with a speeding multi-utility vehicle on Mumbai-Agra highway near Taraganj in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district, a police official said.
    The Delhi University has resumed the physical mode of examination after a gap of over two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting exams for students with Essential Repeats (ERs) on Monday. Speaking to PTI, D S Rawat, DU Dean of Examination, informed that exams for those who could not attain passing marks in one or more subjects were conducted “smoothly” in all colleges.
     
    Former Gujarat MLA and Congress leader Vasant Bhatol on Monday joined the BJP at the party’s ‘Kamalam’ headquarters in Gandhinagar. Bhatol had left the BJP ahead of the general elections in April 2019 and joined the Congress after the opposition party had given his father Parthi Bhatol a ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls from Banaskantha.
    One hideout was busted in Peer Topa forest in the Poonch sector. Army and Police laid a cordon around the general area. On search of the hideout, 100 rounds of AK -47 and a few other materials were recovered. The hideout was later destroyed by team: Jammu & Kashmir Police
    Amidst violent clashes and unrest in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday resigned from his post.
    To attract young talent to the party, a Congress sub-group has recommended giving only one ticket per family so that big leaders do not corner party tickets and deny a place to the genuine hard workers.
    Domestic air passenger traffic is estimated to have logged an 83 percent growth year-on-year at 10.5-million in April as Covid-19 infection cases waned, leaving a gap of just 5 percent when compared to the pre-pandemic level, ICRA said on Monday. Indian carriers had flown around 11 million passengers in April 2019.
    A fire broke out in the Mahakali Nagar slum area in Beltarodi. Fire fighting operation is underway. 
    Six people detained from different areas of Mumbai today are being interrogated by the Agency; Raids underway at 20 locations. 
    The Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad on Monday courted controversy when he said that those who are campaigning against Azaan are terrorists.
    The AAP government in Punjab is working in an “undemocratic manner” and “not following due legal process”, former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said here commenting on BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s arrest last week.
    An FIR will be filed in connection with the death of a woman from Faridabad in Haryana in a North Goa hotel last month after her kin raised suspicion on circumstances surrounding her demise, a senior police official said on Monday.
    New Delhis “stubbornness” over Pakistan-India water disputes persists as it is yet to respond to a letter sent from Islamabad even after the passage of a month, the media reported.
    A meeting of water experts from both sides is scheduled to be held in New Delhi this month, but now it seems that the talks would be delayed, The Express Tribune said in a report.
    A three-day meeting of water experts from both countries was held on March 1 in Islamabad. According to sources, it was agreed in that meeting to hold talks in New Delhi in May.
    An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale jolted Indonesia’s North Maluku province on Monday, according to authorities.
    The quake struck at 4.51 a.m., with the epicentre at 72 km northwest of Halmahera Barat (West Halmahera) district and the shallow of 10 km under the seabed, Xinhua news agency reported citing the authorities as saying.
    The quake did not trigger a tsunami, they added.
    The death toll from an explosion at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana has increased to 30, as search and rescue efforts continue, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health said.
    The Ministry said that there are also 84 injuries, with 19 adults and five children remaining hospitalised, reports Xinhua news agency.
    Rescuers continue to search for survivors and bodies at the hotel, which was seriously damaged when a tanker truck loaded with some 10,000 liters of liquid gas exploded on May 6.
    The police on Monday recovered the bodies of a married couple from a rented room in Bhopal. As per the police, Jitendra and his wife Ranjeeta from Khandwa were staying at their relative, Kaluram’s rented accomodation in Shahpura area.
    Ranjeeta had filed for divorce in Khandwa. A senior police official in the Shahpura police station said that a team has been sent to Khandwa.
    While the woman’s body was found on the bed, Jitendra was found hanging. Prima facie, it appeared that the man must have committed suicide after killing his wife, but the doctors ruled out any strangulation marks on the neck of the deceased, police said.
    A 12-year-old boy died while three girls were hospitalised after consuming some poisonous herb in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Monday. The children were playing in a forest area near Rakhjaroh village in Batote area on Sunday when they consumed the unknown wild herb, a police official said.
    He said they fell unconscious after vomiting and were rushed to the Community Health Centre, Batote, where one of them identified as Mohammad Basit died.
    Basit’s sister Shabnam (10) and neighbours Sania Bano (10) and Razia Bano (8) were referred to Government Medical College Hospital Jammu for specialised treatment.
    Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday appealed to the people to exercise restraint and remember that violence only begets violence, saying the economic crisis needs an economic solution which his government is committed to resolving.
    His statement came amidst violence in the country in which at least 16 people were injured as supporters of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked anti-government demonstrators gathered at a protest site near his official residence, prompting the police to enforce a curfew in the capital.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on May 13 virtually launch the Madhya Pradesh government’s Startup Policy and Implementation Plan-2022, aimed at encouraging budding entrepreneurs in the state, an official said on Monday.
    The event will be held at the Brilliant Convention Centre in Indore in the presence of MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the official from the public relations department said.
    Various programmes have been launched across the state to bring awareness about the state’s start-up policy, specially developed to strengthen and bring to reality the entrepreneurial ideas of youth, the official said.
    A shooting at a greater Atlanta condominium complex has left three people dead and three others wounded, police said, adding no arrests were immediately made.
    Police in Dekalb County said the six people were shot on Sunday night at the complex near Clarkston, a community in a suburb east of Atlanta.
    Lt. Shane Smith, a county police spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that people calling 911 reported shots fired shortly before 8 p.m. on Sunday at the Brandon Hill condominium complex and that arriving officers found five people had been shot, three fatally.
    IAS officer Pooja Singhal, the secretary of the Jharkhand mining department will be questioned by ED at the Ranchi Zonal office tomorrow in connection with raids & searches at premises linked to her & cash recovered from CA Suman Kumar’s residence: Sources
    A relatively rare East Coast earthquake centered just northeast of South Carolina’s capital city jolted large numbers of state residents awake early Monday, rocking the Southern state at a preliminary 3.3 magnitude, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of any damages or injuries.
    The pre-dawn temblor lasted only seconds but hundreds of people took to social media to describe being shaken from sleep when the quake hit shortly after 1:30 a.m.
    A seismic analyst monitoring the quake for the USGS Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, called it the latest in a series of shakes in recent months but stronger than usual.
    MG Motor India on Monday said it has crossed 1 lakh cumulative sales milestones in the country since the launch of its first vehicle nearly three years ago. The company, which started selling its vehicles in India with the launch of Hector SUV in June 2019, currently has a portfolio including the electric SUV, ZS EV, premium SUV Gloster and compact SUV Astor.
    “This marks a new milestone in the brand’s journey centred on constant innovation, experiential customer service, and a dedication to sustainability and community,” MG Motor India said in a statement.
    MG Motor India President and Managing Director Rajeev Chaba said, “Our dedication to bringing positive changes to the Indian mobility space through smart mobility solutions and creating a sustainable future is becoming stronger every day.”
    A major fire broke out in a residential area in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city on Monday, causing damage to nearly 100 hutments, a fire official said.
    The blaze erupted around 10 am in Mahakali Nagar of Beltarodi area where several labourers live, the official told PTI.
    No casualty has been reported so far, but a minor girl is missing and efforts are on to trace her, he said. 
    “Around 100 hutments were affected by the fire,” the official said.
    The blaze was later brought under control, he said, adding that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
    Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Monday said it has bagged a significant project from the Jharkhand government for irrigation. The project envisages providing water to irrigate 22,283 hectare of Culturable Command Area (CCA) in Dumka district of Jharkhand by way of pumping water from the Sidheshwari river. The scope includes survey, design, and construction of a barrage across the river.
    The talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are expected to begin next week in Doha, local media reported on Monday. The Express Tribune reported that the IMF has informed the country’s government that it could send a mission to Doha for one week on May 18 for talks with Pakistan on the revival of the Extended Fund Facility, said the officials.
    However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will have to overcome all obstacles from his cabinet members before that and has to make a decision on fuel subsidies.
    Professor Dr Medha Kirit Somaiya, wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, has registered a complaint against Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut stating that the accused made malicious and unwarranted statements against the complainant in the media. Dr Medha visited Navghar Police Station, Mulund East, Mumbai, to file a complaint against Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who allegedly made a defamatory statement against her and his family.
    “I state that the accused Sanjay Raut is Executive Editor of Marathi Newspaper “SAAMNA” and is also the chief spokesman of Shivsena, a political party. I say that the accused around 16th April, 2022 and thereafter made malicious and unwarranted mischievous statements against me in the media, the same which was printed, published and circulated to the general public at large through electronic and print media. The said malicious statements were also viral on social media platforms,” she said in her complaint.
    Lakhimpur Kheri violence | Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court rejects bail plea of accused Lav Kush, Ankit Das, Sumit Jaiswal and Shishupal

    India and France agreed to work in close proximity in line with the Make in India initiatives to address challenges related to space issues, besides having deeper ties in climate change and defence-related matters.
    Building on a great tradition of over 60 years of technical and scientific space cooperation, and in order to address the contemporary challenges that have arisen in space, in particular maintaining secure access to space for all, India and France have agreed on setting up a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to France.
    “It will bring together experts from space and defence agencies, administration and specialised ecosystem to discuss security and economic challenges in outer space, the norms and principles applicable to space as well as unveil new areas of cooperation. The two sides agreed to hold the first dialogue this year at the earliest,” the joint statement from the meeting revealed.
    Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reviewed the situation along the Assam-Bangladesh border from the Mankachar sector of the state.
    Shah, who arrived at the Kamakhya Hilltop via a chopper earlier in the day, offered prayers at the temple there before leaving for the Mankachar.
    He was welcomed by officials of the BSF and the state government at the border outpost.
    Jammu & Kashmir | Encounter begins between terrorists and security forces in Shirmal, Zainapora in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. Details awaited.
    An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter Scale occurred 68 km SW of Yonaguni, Japan at 11:53am IST today, as per European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)
    Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, has announced a successful closure of funding of $250 million senior secured three-year ECB facility from consortium of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Barclays Bank PLC.
    The facility has an option to raise additional $200 million.
    The financing structure enables a scalable capital solution with flexibility to tap global capital markets in line with AAHL’s vision of providing a transformational airport infrastructure platform.
    South Sudan’s Ministry of Health has declared a cholera outbreak following the confirmation of eight cases in Rubkona county.
    The Ministry said the move follows tests conducted by the National Public Health Laboratory in Juba that confirmed the outbreak, reports Xinhua news agency.
    “Public is being urged not to panic but remain calm and observe all the precautionary measures to prevent community transmission and spread in populations with inadequate access to safe drinking water, poor personal hygiene, and inadequate access to improved sanitation facilities,” the Ministry said in a statement.
    Delhi BJP has decided to replace unreachable or missing booth committee members with the new ones. The BJP city unit has started physical verification of its booth committee members from May after it failed to connect with nearly 50 per cent of them.
    Last month, IANS had reported that the Delhi BJP is starting a 45-day physical verification campaign of its booth committee members after failing to connect with them from May 1.
    An old live mortar shell was found on Monday in J&K’s Tosamaidan tourist destination in Budgam district. Police sources said the live shell was found by the locals who informed the police about it.
    “A bomb disposal squad was called in and the mortar shell was successfully defused,” police said.

    Enforcement Directorate denies allegations made by Xiaomi India that statements of its officials were taken under coercion as untrue and baseless, says the Agency.
    ED had seized Rs 5551.27 cr of Xiaomi India, under FEMA, for illegal outward remittances made by the company.

    Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa may offer to stand down as the prime minister on Monday, political sources said, as pressure mounts on the embattled government led by his younger brother and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to form an interim administration to overcome the worst economic crisis facing the country.
    Rajapaksa, 76, under intense pressure from within his own Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) ranks to resign was gathering his supporters to apply counterpressure not to stand down.
    His younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, though wanting his resignation had not directly conveyed his wish. The President wants his resignation enabling him to go for a government of national unity, an interim arrangement till the present economic crisis could be dealt with, sources said.
    “He may not offer direct resignation,” Dayasiri Jayasekera, a ruling coalition dissident told PTI.
    Police on Sunday rescued 21 cattle heads from a truck and apprehended two persons in Assam’s Biswanath district.
    Based on secret information, a police team of Biswanath Chariali Sadar police station set up a barricade in front of the police station on Sunday and intercepted a truck.
    The Border Security Force (BSF) shot down a drone coming from the Pakistan side, which was carrying heroin in Punjab’s Amritsar, the paramilitary force said on Monday.
    The BSF said that it recovered nine packets of heroin from the Pakistani drone weighing 10.67 kilograms, foiling the smuggling bid from across the border.
    Assam | One person died and another injured after a passenger train collided with a vehicle under Bordoloni-Dhemaji section in Dhemaji district today morning.
    The rupee extended its losses and touched an all-time low of 77.42 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday weighed down by the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and unabated foreign fund outflows.
    At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 77.17 against the American dollar, then lost ground to quote at 77.42, registering a fall of 52 paise from the last close.
    On Friday, the rupee had slumped 55 paise to close at 76.90 against the US dollar. 
    Equity benchmarks continued to face heavy drubbing on Monday, with the Sensex tumbling over 713 points in early trade, following a sell-off in global markets and decline in shares of index major Reliance Industries.
    Unabated foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices also continued to weigh on sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 713.49 points to 54,122.09 in early trade. The NSE Nifty also tumbled 248.7 points to 16,162.55.
    China’s export growth tumbled in April after Shanghai and other industrial cities were shut down to fight virus outbreaks.
    Exports rose 3.7 per cent over a year earlier to USD 273.6 billion, down sharply from March’s 15.7 per cent growth, customs data showed Monday. Reflecting weak Chinese demand, imports crept up 0.7 per cent to USD 222.5 billion, in line with the previous month’s equally weak growth below 1 per cent.
    A black panther has been spotted in a camera trap placed in a wildlife sanctuary in Goa, following which the state government has decided to install more cameras in the forest area to monitor the feline’s movements, state Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane said.
    The state forest department on Sunday released a picture of the black panther caught on camera in South Goa’s Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary on April 25.
    Maharashtra’s Thane district has added 30 new cases of coronavirus, raising its infection count to 7,09,208, an official said on Monday.
    These new cases were reported on Sunday, he said.
    The death toll remained unchanged at 11,894, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 1.67 per cent.
    In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,63,612, while the death toll stands at 3,407, another official said. 
    Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd declined 3 per cent in early trade on Monday, after the company’s March quarter earnings failed to cheer investors. The stock has been quoting lower for the past many days and further slumped 3 per cent to Rs 2,542.10, amid a weak trend in the broader market.
    At the NSE, the stock declined 2.99 per cent to Rs 2,542.25. Since April 29, the stock has fallen 9.82 per cent.
    Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 22.5 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March on the back of bumper oil refining margins, steady growth in telecom and digital services and strong momentum in the retail business.
    The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate’s consolidated net profit rose to Rs 16,203 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2022 from Rs 13,227 crore, the firm said in a statement.

    Three persons were killed and one was injured in a strafing incident near a polling center in Maguindanao province on the election day in the Philippines on Monday. According to the military, the attackers on board two vans opened fire at the peacekeepers assisting the voting process in Buluan town around 7:25 am local time (2325 GMT), Xinhua News Agency reported.
    The victims were reportedly supporters of a local politician running for the post of mayor in the town.
    The election body also reported another strafing incident today morning in Sumisip town in Basilan province in the country. However, there were no casualties in the attack.
    Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia & Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala today took oath as Supreme Court judges. CJI NV Ramana administered the oath of office to the new judges in a swearing-in ceremony.
    After their appointment, the apex court will function at its full strength of 34.

    As cash-strapped Sri Lanka struggles to emerge out of a deepening economic crisis, Bangladesh has extended the term of the USD 200 million loan to the island nation under a currency swap deal by one more year.
    The decision was taken by the Bangladesh Bank directors in a meeting on Sunday. The spokesman of the central bank, Serajul Islam, said that the extension was granted by keeping the conditions for the loan unchanged, reported Daily Mirror.
    In its first loan to another country, Bangladesh agreed to the deal with Sri Lanka in May 2021. According to the deal, the island nation was supposed to repay the loan within three months, however, as the country is facing a severe economic crisis the loan term has been extended.
    Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that he himself will investigate the alleged incident of IndiGo airlines, which barred an adolescent child with special needs from boarding a plane along with his parents at the Ranchi airport on Saturday.
    The Union Minister said that there is zero-tolerance for such behaviour and appropriate action will be taken after the investigation.
    “There is zero tolerance towards such behaviour. No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken,” he said in a tweet.
    Karnataka: Sri Ram Sena workers detained by police while they were on their way to Hanuman Temple in Shanti Nagar, Bengaluru.
    Earlier in the week, Sri Ram Sena announced that they will play Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers.

    India reports 3,207 fresh cases, 3,410 recoveries, and 29 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases 20,403
    The US on Sunday announced new sanctions on Russia, targeting management consultancies and accounting services and media outlets funded directly or indirectly by the state. Also, among the new curbs, were export controls on equipment and machinery such as bulldozers.
    The Iraqi forces have killed three Islamic State (IS) militants and arrested three of the group’s local leaders in the provinces of Nineveh and Baghdad, the Iraqi military said.
    The army carried out an operation in a mountainous area in the northern province of Nineveh and killed three IS militants, Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement.
    Separately, the Iraqi forces arrested three IS local leaders in Baghdad Province by intelligence reports from previously arrested terrorists, the media office of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in another statement.
    Filipinos began voting on Monday morning to elect their next President and some 18,000 other officials of all levels of government.
    A total of 37,211 polling centers across the country opened at 6 a.m. local time for the 65.7 million eligible voters and will close at 7 p.m. local time, Xinhua news agency reported.
    Also to be elected are the Vice President, 12 senators, more than 300 members of the House of Representatives, and over 17,000 local officials.
    A Salman Khan doppelganger, Azam Ansari, was taken into custody by the Lucknow police on charges of disturbing peace.
    Ansari was making a reel (short video) at the historic Clock Tower on Sunday night and a huge crowd gathered on the road to see the duplicate Salman Khan, resulting to a massive traffic jam.
    Later, on complaint of some commuters, police rushed to the spot and took Ansari into custody. He has been booked under Section 151 for breach of peace by the Thakurganj police.
    National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducts raids at more than one dozen locations in Mumbai against Pakistan-based gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s associates and a few hawala operators
    Raids are being conducted in Nagpada, Goregaon, Borivali, Santacruz, Mumbra, Bhendi Bazar, and other places
    Several Hawala operators & drug peddlers were associated with Dawood & NIA had registered in this regard in February
    Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with first lady Olena Zelenska to show U.S. support for the embattled nation as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions.
    She became the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during the war, while Zalenska’s public appearance was her first since since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24
    A Station House Officer (SHO) of an all-women police station and a sub-inspector (SI) were suspended here on Sunday on charges of demanding a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to omit the name of an accused in a case, officials said.
    A case of indulging in corruption has been registered against the two at the Civil Lines police station here and departmental inquiry also ordered against them, the officials said.
    SP (City) Vineet Bhatnagar said that Investigating Officer SI Ritu Kajla and Monika Jindal, the SHO of the all-women police station, had demanded Rs 1 lakh from an Army jawan, a resident of Chhur village in Sardhana area of the district, to remove his name from the list of accused in a case.
    A major fire broke out in Noida’s Sector 62 area on Sunday night and firefighting was underway, officials said. Several fire tenders were rushed to the spot while police personnel were also deployed even as a large number of people came out on roads.
    There was no immediate report of injury to any person due to the fire in the commercial hub of Sector 62. 
    Two Palestinians, one a teenager, were killed in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, hours after police apprehended two Palestinian men suspected of killing three Israelis last week. It was the latest episode of violence during weeks of Palestinian attacks in Israel, and Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank that have left at least 18 Israelis and some 30 Palestinians dead.
    The Palestinian man died after he was shot by Israeli troops trying to cross the security fence near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military said that soldiers “spotted a suspect who attempted to illegally cross the security fence” near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem and fired at him. It said the man was evacuated to receive medical treatment, but declined commenting on the man’s condition. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the man’s death.
    An Islamic State affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for an attack that targeted a water pumping station east of the Suez Canal, killing at least 11 soldiers. At least five other soldiers were wounded in Saturday’s attack, according to the Egyptian military. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Egyptian security forces in recent years.
    Thousands of people attended separate funerals for the dead on Sunday.
    The extremist group on Sunday announced its claim of the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified but it was released on Telegram as similar claims have been in the past.
    More than 60 people were feared dead Sunday after a Russian bomb flattened a school being used as a shelter, Ukrainian officials said, while Moscow’s forces kept up their attack on defenders inside Mariupol’s steel plant in an apparent race to capture the city ahead of Russia’s Victory Day holiday.
    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the reported school bombing Saturday in the eastern village of Bilohorivaka and called it another reminder that “it is civilians that pay the highest price” in war.
    The death toll of a powerful explosion at a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital increased to 31 Sunday evening as search crews with dogs hunted through the rubble of the iconic, 19th century building looking for people still missing.
    The Hotel Saratoga, a five-star 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited, blowing the outer walls into the busy, midmorning streets just a block from the country’s Capitol building on Friday.
    Several nearby structures also were damaged, including the historic Marti Theater and the Calvary Baptist Church, headquarters for the denomination in western Cuba. The church said on its Facebook page that the building suffered “significant structural damage, with several collapsed or cracked walls and columns (and) the ceiling partially collapsed,” though no church workers were hurt.
    Strong, fast winds complicated work for firefighters in northeast New Mexico on Sunday as they battled two major blazes, though the rural area’s major population centre appeared to finally be safe from the worst danger.
    “It’s been a challenging day. The winds have picked up; they haven’t let up,” fire spokesperson Todd Abel said Sunday evening.
    The rural area’s largest town — Las Vegas, New Mexico, population 13,000 — sits on the eastern edge of the fire area and appeared safe for now thanks to fire lines dug with bulldozers and other preparations over the past week. But the northern and southern edges of the blaze were still proving tricky for firefighters to contain, particularly given winds as fast as 50 miles per hour (80 km per hour), Abel said.

    The United States has targeted 8 Sberbank executives and 27 Gazprombank executives, as well as Moscow Industrial Bank and its ten subsidiaries in its latest sanctions package, the White House announced in its Fact Sheet on Sunday.
    “The United States also sanctioned eight executives from Sberbank- the largest financial institution in Russia and uniquely important to the Russian economy, holding about a third of all bank assets in Russia; twenty-seven executives from Gazprombank – a prominent Russian bank facilitating business by Russia’s Gazprom, one of the largest natural gas exporters in the world; and Moscow Industrial Bank and its ten subsidiaries,” the Fact Sheet said.
    Nepal is turning out to be a gateway for Chinese criminals and the Himalayan nation has raised concern over the increasing involvement of Chinese nationals in illegal activities.
    On April 22, a joint team from the Department of Immigration and Nepal Police raided a house in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, and arrested 22 Chinese nationals, reported The Annapurna Express (ApEx).
    Strangely, at the time this news was largely ignored by Nepal’s major news outlets and details about the incident remain obscure to this day.
    In an evolving relationship, Slovenia is unlikely to backtrack from pro-Taiwan policies. Sasa Istenic Kotar, Director of Taiwan Study Center in Slovenia on Saturday said that after Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa leaves office, following his electoral defeat last month, the country will maintain ties with the island nation, reported Taipei Times.
    Jansa, a populist who presided over warming relations between Taiwan and Slovenia, was ousted in the parliamentary elections last month by political newcomer Rober Golob.
    A thief was injured in a police encounter in the Rajnagar Extension area of Ghaziabad on Sunday night, said the police. The thief was shot in the leg and had been sent to the hospital.
    The accused had been identified as Santosh Yadav, a resident of Delhi, added the police.
    More than 29 cases of robbery, theft and others are registered in Ghaziabad, Noida, Delhi and Haryana, as per the police.
    Odisha | 64 school students tested COVID-19 positive in the Rayagada district 
    There is no corona outbreak as such. The students have no symptoms and have been isolated. Medical teams have been deployed in the hostels: Saroj Kumar Mishra, District Magistrate, Rayagada
    A social media post on Sunday alleged the staff of IndiGo airlines barred an adolescent with special needs from boarding a plane along with his parents at the Ranchi airport on Saturday.
    “The Indigo staff announced that the child would not be allowed to take the flight. That he was a risk to other passengers. That he would have to become ‘normal’ before he could be travel-worthy,’ read the post.
    “And the staff then went on to state something on the lines of ‘behaviours such as this, and that of drunk passengers unfit to travel,” added the post.
    Maharashtra | Due to OHE (Overhead Equipment) breakdown between Dahisar and Borivali station, all local trains (UP) are running late by 10 to 15 minutes: Western Railway
    A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist was apprehended by a joint team of 29 RR and Jammu and Kashmir Police in Frasthar Kreeri Baramulla on Sunday, said the police.
    He has been identified as Ajaj Ahmed Mir, added the police.
    Bihar DGP SK Singhal said on Sunday that the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) will probe the question paper leak case of the 67th Combined (Preliminary) Competitive Examination of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).
    Earlier on Sunday, BPSC announced the cancellation of the examination.
    “Bihar Public Service Commission’s (BPSC) 67th Combined (Prelims) Competitive Exam has been cancelled. BPSC inquiry committee found that set C of the exam was leaked. Case handed over to the Economic Offences Unit for a thorough investigation,” Singhal told ANI.
    A zero FIR has been lodged with the Delhi Police against the son of a Rajasthan Minister for allegedly raping a 24-year-old woman belonging to a different religion.
    The FIR was lodged at Sadar Bazaar Police station against the son of a Rajasthan Minister. The woman has alleged that a man raped her on the pretext of marriage. An FIR has been transferred to Rajasthan for investigation.
    An earthquake of magnitude 4.4 occurred at around 1:11am, 85km NNE of Campbell Bay, Andaman and Nicobar island today: National Center for Seismology
    Union Home Minister Amit Shah late on Sunday arrived at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati for a two-day tour to inaugurate and launch several projects on the first anniversary of Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government.
    SCS ‘Asani’ over Southeast and adjoining Westcentral Bay of Bengal, about 570 km west-northwest of Port Blair. To move northwestwards till 10th May night and reach Westcentral and adjoining Northwest Bay of Bengal off North AP & Odisha coast: India Meteorological Department
    Amid the Russian offensive, Canada on Sunday lifted all duties on imports from Ukraine for one year. The economic relief was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on May 8.
    “Canada lifts all duties on imports from Ukraine for one year. The economic relief was announced by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on May 8,” tweeted The Kyiv Independent.
    Compared to pre-covid times,there has been a massive 219% increase in preventive arrests of criminal elements.These arrests of criminal elements have drastically reduced the instances of street crimes.There has been a 19% decline in use of firearms during this period: Delhi Police
    There has also been a drop of approximately 60 percent in PCR calls of snatching in 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Since PCR calls are made by citizens, a 60% drop in PCR calls shows that the incidents of snatching have come down in the city: Delhi Police
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday warned Imran Khan of legal action for attempting to instigate a civil war in the country. Shehbaz on Sunday termed Imran Khan’s Abbottabad speech “a conspiracy against Pakistan,” reported Geo News.
    “The 220 million people of Pakistan, the Constitution, and the national institutions are not slaves to one person’s ego. Imran Niazi wants to enslave the masses, but we will not allow him to become the Hitler of Pakistan,” read the statement of Shehbaz Sharif.
    “Imran Niazi lied a lot, but now he has to face the truth,” said Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif.
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