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Police have disputed reports of a third death in the incident.

Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela has refuted allegations that police did not respond swiftly to the deadly New Year’s Day shooting in Melville, Johannesburg.

Mawela says law enforcement officials were out in their numbers on New Year’s Eve and it was an extremely busy night.

The Gauteng police boss says investigations are continuing and police are following up on a number of leads regarding the shooting which left two people dead and six others wounded, two critically.

At least two people have died and six others have been injured in what appears to be a drive-by #shooting in #Melville, #Johannesburg on #NewYears morning. Updates to follow. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/fotQVCyJiC — Jamaine Krige (@jour_maine) January 1, 2020

Witnesses of the #MelvilleShooting say an altercation broke out between #NewYears revellers. The suspected shooter left before returning to the restaurant and opening fire from a vehicle. At least two people have died and six others have been transported to hospital. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/ebe0XIebE7 — Jamaine Krige (@jour_maine) January 1, 2020

One of the wounded is well-known actor, Mortimer Williams.

Police have rubbished reports of a third death in the tragedy.

Mawela says Melville residents and eyewitnesses have been extremely helpful in the investigation.

“Now remember during that time of the night you’ll know that our communications system will be clogged also the network won’t be favourable but I can assure the people we were all over. Including myself I was on duty the whole night so we were around there, the response by the police, it was reasonable because we did have police officers around that particular vicinity all of us we were on duty.”

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JOHANNESBURG - A manhunt is underway after two women were killed and six others wounded in a drive-by shooting in Melville, Johannesburg.

The shooting took place just after midnight at a restaurant.

Police said in a statement that a vehicle approached the restaurant and fired multiple shots at patrons sitting outside.

The two victims are aged between 30 and 40.

The wounded were rushed to nearby hospitals. Police said that two of the victims are in critical condition.

Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela has condemned the incident.

Mawela urged the investigators to ensure that no stone is left unturned in ensuring that the suspects are found and brought to book.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or have information is urged to call the crime stop number 08600 10111 or by giving a tip-off on the MySAPS app, anonymously if they so choose.

Jessica Iron

A friend and I had a disagreement the other day. I’d told her about an incident I’d had earlier in the week where I’d been so frustrated with someone I’d jumbled my words and it was obvious I was bordering on anger. Nothing more than that happened. We parted ways before the tension escalated but it left me with a lingering sense of disappointment.

I confessed to my friend that I had let myself down in that moment. I was in reaction-mode and teetering off the brink of logic, soon to reach unchartered territory where I would no longer be in control of my emotions.

That’s what happens to all of us when we let anger take over. We begin to do and say things that we would normally abhor, like a blacked-out alcoholic who is unrecognizable from their sober and meek self.

That’s what anger does: it transforms us, and never for the better.

However, like a dutiful good friend, my friend quickly came to my defence and argued on my behalf. She suggested that it wasn’t a bad thing for the offending party to see me angry. She thought the person might benefit from witnessing my boiling point as it would teach them boundaries.

She also remarked that there was nothing wrong with me not having the perfect response.

Those are definitely some interesting points, but I was less worried about what the other person thought of my frustration in comparison to how I perceived it myself. At one time in my life, maybe even not that long ago, I would’ve agreed with my friend—partly for my ego’s sake, but also because I willfully gave in to anger much easier.

However, that was also a time in my life where drama and dysfunction were the norm and anger flowed through my life freely and without abandon.

Now I try to examine my triggers and dismantle them before I set off into the world each day, mindful of the power my words and actions have upon those around me.

Anger is my responsibility, no one else’s. It’s also a reaction, always a reaction to something or someone we can’t control.

There is so much we cannot control that it would be so easy to remain in an angry state virtually every time we step outside. That doesn’t mean we must be servile and docile human beings, incapable of making change because we’re too busy with our spurious smiles; disguising thin efforts at refrain. We can certainly effect change without resorting to the upheaval of our most basic and primal selves.

I considered my friend’s words as I laid out a plan. I was to meet with the person I’d been frustrated with the very next day. Now, this person was comfortable with anger. I’d seen her outbursts before. I could do as my friend suggested and Alpha-male her; asserting my dominance which is always what anger and ego demand.

Or, I could try another approach which didn’t cause my soul and conscience to cringe in disapproval.

The next day I stated my boundaries, first and foremost, politely and with light humour. She understood instantly, was compliant and amiable, and do you know what? We had a great week full of laughter, good banter and joy. I like to think that was all possible because I chose to dismantle my anger and frustration rather than igniting them.

Anger may be a natural emotion, but we have the power to confront it and dissipate its energy or succumb to it and watch it consume us, devastating everyone and everything around us. It’s always our choice.

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On the 100th anniversary of the publication of Agatha Christie's first novel we look back at the author's childhood in Devon and discover that it is still possible to find her childhood haunts and the places which inspired her novels.

The so-called Queen of Crime wrote 70-plus detective novels.

Christie can also be considered a queen of all publishing genres as she is one of the top-selling authors in history, with her combined works selling more than two billion copies worldwide.

As a little girl she liked to play hoop and pretend to ride an imaginary horse around her childhood home, Ashfield House in Barton Road. At that time it looked out across Torbay.

But it was demolished in 1961 to make way for bungalows. Now all that remains is a small plaque on a roadside granite slab.

But many of the places that young Agatha knew and loved still remain.

She may have looked outwardly like a timid young Victorian lady. But Agatha had a wild streak. She loved to ride horses, swim in the rain, go on nocturnal torchlight picnics and roller-skate on the 'rough' pier with her best friend, a boy called Bolton Fletcher. Later she became one of the first Europeans to surf standing up in Honolulu.

And during the Great War she volunteered in a makeshift hospital for the war wounded where she first became fascinated by poisons.

And when her dashing young first husband had an affair, Agatha was not like other women at the time. Instead of quietly carrying on, she staged a dramatic disappearance and had the world's press and the police scouring the country for 11 days while she stayed at a hotel using the same surname as her husband's lover.

These are the places that young Agatha was inspired by:

Ashfield - the family home

(Image: Herald Express)

On the slopes above Barton, before the tower block of South Devon Technical College was built, Agatha had a happy family home. She adored Ashfield, with its large garden and monkey puzzle tree.

She wrote: "I had a very happy childhood. I had a home and a garden that I loved; a wise and patient nanny; and a father and mother who loved each other dearly.''

(Image: Ed Oldfield)

As recently as 2017 her grandson Matthew Prichard spoke about his regret that the childhood home in Barton Road had been demolished. Now there is a granite slab with a blue plague marking the spot.

(Image: Herald Express)

Princess Pier

The young Agatha roller skated on the pier before the First World War.

In her autobiography Agatha wrote about roller-skating with the Lucy family and her sister-in-law, Nan Watts in about 1911 .

She said: "Roller-skating on the pier was a pastime much in vogue. The surface of the pier was extremely rough, and you fell down a good deal, but it was great fun. Nan Watts and I were fast friends by now. We were not only friends but drinking companions – we both liked the same drink, cream, ordinary plain, neat cream."

Swimming and surfing

Agatha always loved to swim in any weather.

When she was a young girl, the beaches in Torquay were segregated by sex.

Torquay Council kept a strict watch on the propriety of sea bathing. In 1899, a bylaw stated that “no person of the male sex shall at any time bathe within 50 yards of a ladies’ bathing machine.”

(Image: Herald Express)

Men and boys swam at the Gentlemen’s Bathing Cove where there was no dress code. Men swam there in the nude or “in their scanty triangles,” Agatha recalled, “disport[ing] themselves as they pleased.” Women and girls were restricted to swimming at the Ladies’ Bathing Cove an Beacon Cove. Their beach was small and stony, and steeply sloping.

In 1903, when Agatha was 13, the Council approved mixed bathing on its beaches. Men and women could now swim together at Tor Abbey Sands and Corbyn Head Beach, as well as on the more aristocratic Meadfoot Beach, the one Agatha’s mother’s preferred.

In her youth she would often swim several hundred metres out to Shag Rock and back from Meadfoot beach.

After her first marriage Agatha Christie became one of Britain's earliest "stand-up" surfers in 1922 at Waikiki in Honolulu.

(Image: Museum of British Surfing)

Barton Cricket Club

(Image: Torbay Council)

As a little girl the future Queen of Crime would sit in the shade of the large oak tree which still dominates the Barton ground to keep score and watch her father play cricket.

Torquay Town Hall Assembly Rooms

(Image: Herald Express)

As a volunteer nurse and later an assistant pharmacist during World War I, this was where the teenage Agatha first learned about poisons, plots and puzzles which became the source material for many of her books.

Grand Hotel - where she spent her honeymoon night

This is the site of Agatha’s honeymoon to Archie Christie on Christmas Eve 1914. In recognition of that The Grand Hotel has a bedroom suite named after her.

All Saints Church in Torre

The Queen of Crime was baptised in All Saints and the seat where she sat every week with her father is still in the church.

Visitors can still see a framed copy of her baptismal certificate, the ornate font where she was baptised at two months old in 1890 and even sit in the pew where Agatha always sat next to her father.

Where Agatha Christie kept her horse

When Agatha was a child the old Torre Conservative Club in South Street, founded in 1912 by Lord Leith of Fyvie, was a coaching house with stables attached which could be accessed via the lane alongside the police station. When she lived at Ashfield in Barton Road, she kept her horse at those stables and would often visit via the Vansittart Road entrance.

Greenway

(Image: Richard Austin)

The fabulous Greenway estate, with its Grade II* listed house and garden, were acquired by the National Trust in 1999. It is significant as the former home of author Agatha Christie and also the birthplace of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1537.

Agatha Christie and her second husband Max Mallowan regularly stayed at Greenway after they bought it in 1938.

The boat house on the Dart

The landing stage for Greenway was the inspiration for the place in the novel Dead Man's Folly where Mrs Oliver believes the body will be found.

Paignton Picture House

Dame Agatha regularly went to Paignton Picture House and her favourite seat is still there. The former Torbay Cinema opened on March 16, 1914, and is hailed as one of the most important purpose-built original cinemas in the country. A trust is trying to restore it to its former glory.

Dartmoor - where Agatha wrote her first novel

Agatha completed her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), at the Moorland Hotel at Hay Tor on Dartmoor and always loved the Moors.

Imperial Hotel, Torquay

The hotel provided the inspiration for the Majestic Hotel in two of Christie’s novels – Peril at End House and The Body in the Library. In Sleeping Murder, Miss Marple’s final case, the Imperial Hotel appears as itself, with the denouement taking place on the terrace.

The Pavilion

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890, and the English Riviera celebrated her centenary with the creation of a hand-crafted bronze bust in her likeness. The bust sits on Palk Street, close to the sadly dilapidated and boarded up Edwardian Pavilion.

Anstey's Cove

(Image: GoogleMaps)

In her early days Dame Agatha enjoyed nocturnal torchlight picnics at Anstey's Cove - another of her favourite beaches.

(Image: PA Wire)

Burgh Island - and then there were none

This island opposite Bantham, sits just off Bigbury-on-Sea in the South Hams. It was the inspiration for Agatha's best-love book 'And Then There Were None'.

Walk the Agatha Christie Mile

Established in 1990, the centenary of Agatha's birth, there are 11 specific locations along a one mile route around Torquay seafront.

It leads to places she knew and loved, along the busy harbour and stretching along the palm-lined seafront and promenades.

Some of the plaque locations include; The Grand Hotel, Princess Pier, Princess Gardens, The Pavilion, Agatha Christie Bust, The Strand, Torquay Museum, Royal Torbay Yacht Club, Beacon Cove, Imperial Hotel, Kents Cavern, Torquay Train Station, Cockington and Oldway Mansion.+

As access to banking services through digital channels continues to grow, so does the need to protect consumers against the prevalence of online banking fraud.

Due to the prevalence of banking scams, we urge consumers to be more vigilant and familiarise themselves with the different types of online banking fraud.

The following are the latest online banking scams consumers should be wary of:

Flight purchase debit scams

You will receive an SMS informing you of a flight purchase debited to your account.

Fraudsters will ask you to select a link in the SMS to revise the transaction.

When you select the link, you will be redirected to a fake bank website.

You are then redirected to an ‘Update and Confirm Details’ screen requesting more information to be verified.

The fraudsters will now be in a position to access your banking profile.

Social media scams

Beware of fraudsters pretending to represent the bank you use on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp or any other social media platform.

The bank will never ask for your credit or cheque card, account number, online banking login details or password or One Time Pin (OTP) on social media platforms.

The official accounts also display a blue tick indicating they are verified.

Change of banking details scam

You will receive an email that allegedly comes from one of your suppliers asking you to update your banking details.

Beware of this, even if it is on the supplier’s letterhead.

Contact your supplier on the number you already have for them and not the one on the fraudulent letter.

Speak to someone you know at the supplier to confirm the change in banking details.

Copy of payment notification scam

You will receive an email requesting you to open a copy of your payment notification.

Fraudsters will prompt you to login via the email attachment.

When you open the attachment in the email, you will be redirected to a fake bank website.

In an attempt to steal your banking details you will be requested to login.

As soon as you enter your login details on the screen, you are redirected to a successfully logged out screen.

The fraudsters will now be in a position to access your banking profile.

419 scams

This is communication by email to a recipient making an offer that would result in a large payoff for the recipient.

The details vary and large amounts of money are usually involved.

The victims’ banking details as well as sums of money are said to be required in advance in order to facilitate the payment of the funds.

Essentially, the promised money transfer never happens and the fraudsters may use the victims’ banking details to withdraw money for themselves.

Phishing

Communication seemingly from the bank or other companies that gets you to disclose personal information such as your ID number, address, account number, username, login details, password and PIN.

This information can also be used to gain unauthorised access to your banking account online.

OTP email fraud

Using various methods of phishing, criminals also try to get access to your email accounts, commonly Gmail, Yahoo, etc.

They produce fake login sites that look like Gmail or Yahoo.

Once they have your email username and password, they have access to your emails (statements, personal communications) and this helps a criminal build a social profile of you.

Criminals can also intercept OTPs that are sent to emails once they have access to your email account.

OTP Sim swap fraud

Once criminals are in possession of your username and password, they can easily access your accounts on online banking.

They can also contact your service provider to do a Sim swap, which basically means they hijack your sim and have access to your SMS.

This also gives them access to your OTP.

Remember, the bank will never ask for your username, password or Pin in an email, SMS, social media or phone call.

Never select a link to our website that was sent via email. Always type in the bank’s web address.

READ MORE: Post Office of parcel delivery scam

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US troops fire tear gas at pro-Iran protesters outside US embassy in Baghdad https://t.co/hZ3KwELvk2 — 4029news (@4029news) January 1, 2020

Protests are continuing today at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Demonstrators are throwing rocks and setting fires.

The Trump administration is boiling this issue down to the U.S. versus Iran. That conflict is at play, no doubt. But you might find this New York Times explanation of the many cross-currents of unhappiness and division there useful. Nothing is simple in Iraq, where U.S. troops have now been deployed for 28 years.

Also: A contingent of Marines has arrived to shore up embassy security.

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Soldiers and police officers conducting checks at a roadblock during the movement control order (MCO) in Kuala Lumpur March 29, 2020. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Putrajaya has announced today an enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in seven villages in Hulu Langat, after 71 positive cases were identified among 274 residents of a tahfiz school there.

The two-week EMCO effective this midnight will involve the areas of Batu 21 to Batu 24 in Sungai Lui, involving 3,918 residents from 700 households, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

“Taking into account the high total cases in the school, the government with the advice of the Health Minister has decided to implement an EMCO, the second after Simpang Renggam,” Ismail Sabri said.

He was referring to the Maahad Tahfiz An-Nabawiyyah in Sungai Lui, where students learn Quran memorisation.

The seven villages comprise of five Malay-majority villages, and two Orang Asli villages.

Last week, Putrajaya announced the EMCO in two areas in Simpang Renggam after recording 61 positive cases of Covid-19 there, out of 83 in Kluang.

During the order, all local and visitors in the areas are subject to house curfew, while non-locals are not allowed in with all entry points blocked.

In addition, all business activities must halt during the period.

Any essential food item will be distributed by the Social Welfare Department. A medical base will also be set up there.

Police officers, Armed Forces, Civil Defence Force, and People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) personnel will be stationed there to enforce the order.

Earlier today, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has not ruled out the possibility of EMCO in more areas in Selangor, as the state had a high number of Covid-19 cases in a number of areas.

Yesterday, Malay Mail reported that Kepong and Klang were now officially red zones or Covid-19 hotspots with more than 40 cases each, and Lembah Pantai continued to record the highest number of Covid-19 patients while Hulu Langat had overtaken Petaling Jaya in terms of Covid-19 case numbers.

29/03/2020 08:15 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 -- The government will enforce an Enhanced Movement Order Control (EMCO) in areas covering Batu 21 to Batu 24, Sungai Lui in Hulu Langat, Selangor, starting from midnight tonight. Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the EMCO involves seven villages, comprising two Orang Asli settlements and five Malay villages. The order, effective from midnight (12.01 am tonight) until April 13, covering 700 homes with 3,918 residents, he said in a statement here this evening.

Ismail Sabri said the decision was made after taking into account the high number of COVID-19 positive cases involving Maahad Tahfiz AnNabawiyyah students at Batu 23, Sungai Lui. He said the Ministry of Health had confirmed that there were 71 positive cases out of 274 students at the maahad tahfiz. All residents and visitors who are already in the areas are not allowed to leave home during the implementation of the EMCO, he said.

"Non-residents and visitors will not be allowed to enter the areas during the period of the EMCO and all business activities suspended. “For the next 14 days, food to all residents will be provided by the Welfare Department and a Medical Base will be opened in affected areas while all entry points into the areas will be closed,” he said. Ismail Sabri who is also Defence Minister said to ensure compliance with this order, the Royal Malaysian Police, the Malaysian Armed Forces, the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) and the People's Volunteer Corps will control the entire area.

I have a VM I am trying to clean up for backup and I can not compact it now.

What I have done is :

From VMware® Workstation 15 Pro :

Linux VM

100gb disk not pre-allocated 40gb shown used in VM files (2gb really used on virtual disk)

defragged disk (Worked) Took a while to complete

Compacted disk (Worked 1st time) Took a while to complete

Disks did not shrink at all

I realized there was a snapshot so I deleted it.Took a while to complete.

Now Disk says 88GB used ! (Still only 2gb of files on Virtual disk)

Tried compact and defrag again and both finish immediately with no errors.

Disk not compacted or shrunk at all.

tried :

# vmware-toolbox-cmd disk shrink /

Shrink disk is disabled for this virtual machine.

What is going on here ? This all used to work....

DETROIT – A 29-year-old man was rushed to a hospital after shots were fired into a Detroit home, police said.

The shots were fired just after 6:30 p.m. on South Ethel Street near I-75.

The front of the home was riddled with bullets. Police said nobody is in custody.

Police are still investigating.

The annual Anzac Day dawn service held on the outskirts of a French village on the Western Front has been cancelled by the Australian government who will instead run a 'more convenient' 10am service.

The service, which is held at the Australian War Memorial, near Villers-Bretonneux, will revert to the format used before the 90th anniversary in 2008 to appease French participants.

The move has been slammed by descendants of soldiers who fought on the French battlefields in World War I and comes after Australian taxpayers spend $99 million to build the Sir John Monash Centre, The Australian reported.

The annual Anzac Day dawn service held at the historical Western Front has been cancelled by the Australian government

The centre, which is one of the most expensive museum's to be built in France in recent decades, honours the sacrifices of the Australian troops during the war.

Thousands of Australians have made the journey to attend the dawn service in France, while millions of others turned to their televisions to watch the live coverage.

Despite the following, the newly allocated time of 7pm AEST is unlikely to be broadcast.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) made the move to cancel the dawn service time slot, as revealed by DVA customer service officer Diana Stevanovic.

'Following the completion of the Anzac centenary commemoration program 2014-2018 and consultation with local government representatives from the towns of Villers-Bretonneux, Corbie and Fouilloy, the Australian government has agreed to revert back to a 10am start time as a trial for the 2019 Anzac Day service,' she said in an email.

'As you may be aware, prior to 2008, the Anzac Day service was held at 10am and following an overwhelming positive response to the Armistice service held at 10.30am on November 11, 2018, from both attendees, invited guests and the relevant French authorities, the Australian government has decided to trial reverting back to a 10am service for Anzac Day 2019.'

Pictured: Malcolm Turnbull attends Anzac Day dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux in 2018

Danny Duke, whose great-uncle Albert Lightfoot fought at Villers-Bretonneux, said he was disappointed and dumbfounded the dawn service had been changed.

'The dawn service is an important Australian tradition and we've commemorated it since 1919,' he told The Australian.

Mr Duke has attended the dawn service in France twice and went as recently as last year.

He also questioned what would happen to the surrounding towns with the cancellation of the dawn service as the travelling Australians provide economic and tourist benefits to the area.

Similarly, retired lieutenant colonel Paul Murphy was outraged by the decision, labelling it a 'mockery'.

The bold move has been slammed by descendants of soldiers who fought on the French battlefields in World War I

Mr Murphy, whose company Military History Tours has guided thousands of Australians through the Western Front, suggested the DVA didn't understand how important the history was to a number of the population.

He then questioned why DVA wanted to 'devalue' Australia's largest overseas memorial.

Mr Murphy took his protest to the DVA but was met with a response that said Anzac Day services met the demand of the community at each location.

Alan Griffin, the former Veterans Affairs minister for the Rudd government, questioned why the government would spend almost $100 million on the Sir John Monash Centre yet be willing to save cash through removing the dawn service.

He called the situation 'mind-boggling'.

Max Clark has impressed in the Eredivisie (Picture: Getty Images)

Liverpool are weighing up a move for Vitesse left-back Max Clark as cover for Andy Robertson.

Clark came through the system at Hull City and made 30 appearances for the East Yorkshire club before moving to the Netherlands in 2018.

The 23-year-old has been impressive since the switch to Vitesse and caught the eye for his attacking threat from full-back, becoming especially renowned for his crossing ability.

Sky Sports placed Clark in their team of most promising Under-23 players from across Europe due to his assists and the former England Under-17 international is enjoying a growing reputation across the continent.

His contract at Vitesse expires in 18 months and the Dutch club are expecting there to be bids for him in January, according to the Mirror.

He moved from Hull when his contract expired with the club and the English side received around £400,000 for him, and while Vitesse would expect a lot more than that, he may be a relatively cheap option to add cover at left-back for the Reds.

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Robertson is clear first choice at Anfield, but Jurgen Klopp is short of options after the Scot, with James Milner generally next in line at left-back.

Clark could provide a more natural option as back-up to Robertson, and he believes his time in Holland has helped him grow as a player and a person.

‘I’ve learned a lot about myself,’ Clark told the Hull Daily Mail. ‘It’s given me time to think about myself as a person. It can be hard when you’re lonely so I’ve looked for things to study. I’m reading a lot more than I ever did before. I’m not sure I ever opened a book at home.

‘I’ve turned into a man. I was in a comfort zone living in England. I was happy being around my family and my friends, going out to Nandos, the normal things you do.

‘Over in Holland it was up to me to find a different routine, doing different things, like taking myself for walks. I’ve got used to my own company a lot more but I’d say I’m mentally stronger for that. I think my family have seen me grow into a different person in the last year.’

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One dies in Jan 1 auto crash on, Ore Road

Just before noon on January one, one person had died following an auto crash on Ijebu Ode-Ore Expressway.

The lone accident happened about 11.25pm on Tuesday.

A Toyota Sienna Bus, with registration number, FKJ 453XW, was on a high speed when its tyres burst and in the process lost control and somersaulted into the bush.

Nine persons — five male adults, three female adults and a female child — were involved in the accident.

“The corpse of the female victim has been deposited at the mortuary of General Hospital, Ijebu Ode, while two of the survivors are also receiving treatment at the same hospital.

“The third survivor who is a child was taken to Ise Oluwa Clinic J3 by a good samaritan before the arrival of FRSC rescue team.

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With so many businesses forced to temporarily close due to the spread of COVID-19, distilleries around the country have found a way to help out the people who need it the most.Dread River Distillery in Birmingham, Alabama, and Broad Branch Distillery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are among the many distilleries making hand sanitizer instead of alcohol."What we’re doing basically now is taking the high concentration of alcohol that we would normally be throwing away and we’re using that as a product that we can then distribute to the community as a hand sanitizer," Dread River co-owner John Cubilec said.Dread River has donated several bottles to local hospitals and emergency services, while Broad Branch is letting people get two bottles of sanitizer and allowing people to donate money that will go to students and families in need. "When everyone needs you, you’ve got to step up," Broad Branch Distillery's Joe Tappy said.Watch the video above to see the full story.

With so many businesses forced to temporarily close due to the spread of COVID-19, distilleries around the country have found a way to help out the people who need it the most.

Advertisement Related Content WATCH: How coronavirus cancellations and closures ground life to a halt

Dread River Distillery in Birmingham, Alabama, and Broad Branch Distillery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are among the many distilleries making hand sanitizer instead of alcohol.

"What we’re doing basically now is taking the high concentration of alcohol that we would normally be throwing away and we’re using that as a product that we can then distribute to the community as a hand sanitizer," Dread River co-owner John Cubilec said.

Dread River has donated several bottles to local hospitals and emergency services, while Broad Branch is letting people get two bottles of sanitizer and allowing people to donate money that will go to students and families in need.

"When everyone needs you, you’ve got to step up," Broad Branch Distillery's Joe Tappy said.

Watch the video above to see the full story.

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NEWS. KENNY: CONTINUING COVERAGE OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. SEVERAL BUSINESSES IN THE PIEDMONT TRIAD ARE STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET AS CUSTOMERS ARE ORDERED TO STAY AWAY TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF THIS DOG. BRANDON BATES SHOWS US HOW A DISTILLERY IN WINSTON-SALEM IS KEEPING ITS DOORS OPEN AND HELPING OTHERS AT THE SAME TIME. BRANDON: BROAD BRANCH DISTILLERY HAS FOUND A UNIQUE WAY TO SERVE PEOPLE IN NEED. THEY ARE USING THIS DISTILLERY TO MAKE CAN SANITIZER AND GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE. >> WE HAVE A CAPACITY RIGHT THIS SECOND TO MAKE 9000 BOTTLES. BRANDON: AT A TIME WHEN MOST BUSINESSES ARE QUIET, BROAD BRANCH DISTILLERY IN WINSTON-SALEM IS NOT. >> INCREDIBLY BUSY. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CALLING SAYING, CAN WE HELP? REPORTER: BUT IT’S NOT WHISKEY OR RUM BEING MADE. THEY HAVE CONVERTED THE DISTILLERY AND NOW THEY ARE MAKING HAND SANITIZER. >> YOU HAVE TO STEP UP. REPORTER: WHILE MANY STORES ARE SOLD OUT, BROAD BRANCH WANTS TO HELP OUT WITH HAND SANITIZER. >> WE ALL NEED TO CHIP IN. ONE OF THE WAYS WE CAN DO THINGS IS TO MAKE CAN SANITIZER INSTEAD OF LIQUOR. REPORTER: THE DISTILLERY IS LETTING PEOPLE COME IN AND GET TWO BOTTLES OF SANITIZER AND ALLOWING PEOPLE TO DONATE. THAT MONEY IS GOING TO THE LYNNE H. BERRY SCHOOL BUDDIES FUND. THAT MONEY GOES TO STUDENTS AND FAMILIES IN NEED. >> IT FEELS GOOD. IT FEELS GOOD TO DO GOOD. REPORTER: DISTILLERS HERE SAY EVERYONE NEEDS TO COME TOGETHER NOW AND KEEP DOWNTOWN BUSINESS IN TACT. >> IN THE HARDEST TIMES, EACH OTHER IS WHAT WE HAVE. REPORTER: DISTILLERS HERE SAY THEY’VE GIVEN AWAY HUNDREDS OF BOTTLES AND EVEN GIVEN CHURCHES, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, AND SCHOOLS HANSEN INCISOR IN BULK.

Advertisement Triad distillery using its facility to make hand sanitizer instead of whiskey, rum Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Broad Branch Distillery in Winston-Salem is using its facility to make hand sanitizer, instead of whiskey and rum. Click the video player above to learn more about the new whiskey wash The demand for hand sanitizer and other cleaning products has skyrocketed as the coronavirus pandemic has swept the United States. Joe Tappy is a distiller at Broad Branch and said once business slowed down, employees decided they had the time and resources to help people. "We have the capacity right now to make about 9,000 bottles," Tappy said.Workers at the distillery are now focused on mixing the right blend of alcohol and glycerin."When everyone needs you, you have to step up. We’re not going to be able to do this alone, so we all need to chip in in some way. One way we can do things is to make hand sanitizer instead of liquor," he said.The distillery is letting people come in and get two bottles of sanitizer and allowing people to donate. That money is going to the Lynne H. Berry School Buddies Fund. That money goes to students and families in need."It feels good. It feels good to do good," Don Jenkins, a distiller, said. Distillers said everyone needs to come together right now and support local businesses to keep downtown businesses in tact."In the hardest times, each other is what we have," Jenkins said. Broad Branch has been giving individual bottles of sanitizer to people and offering sanitizer in bulk to schools, churches and government agencies.

How to fight robocalls: The basics You can't block all the spam phone calls, but blocking some is better than blocking none. Read more: https://zd.net/2GGv83H

President Trump this week signed the TRACED Act, the first federal law designed to curb unwanted robocalls. With the problem of robocalls running rampant, the legislation passed with strong support in both the Democratic-led House and the Republican-led Senate.

The legislation takes on the problem from multiple fronts. First, it gives the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) more authority to go after the scammers responsible for unwanted robocalls. It allows the FCC to go after scammers the first time they break the law and extends the statute of limitations by up to four years in some cases. It also ups the financial penalties against robocallers.

Additionally, it encourages stronger Justice Department criminal prosecution of unlawful robocalls by requiring the FCC to provide the DOJ with evidence of criminal robocall violations.

Next, the law requires all carriers to eventually implement new technologies to authenticate caller-ID information, preventing call spoofing -- at no additional line-item cost to consumers. As Congress notes in its summary of the law, many illegal robocalls use call spoofing so the call appears to be coming from a trusted number.

The FCC is already planning to mandate that carriers implement its SHAKEN/STIR authentication system to help combat robocalls. In March, AT&T and Comcast announced that they successfully tested the first SHAKEN/STIR-authenticated call between two different telecom networks.

Meanwhile, the law additionally says consumers should also get access to robocall blocking at no additional line item charge on their bill.

The law also requires the FCC to put new limits on robocalls that are legal, even without consumer consent -- such as calls from financial institutions regarding potentially fraudulent transactions. Specifically, the law calls for new limits on the kinds of organizations that may make such calls, who can receive such calls and the number of calls allowed under the exemption.

The TRACE Act also clarifies that when a person gets a new phone number, robocallers cannot keep calling to look for the person previously had that number.

It also requires the FCC to work to stop one-ring scams and helps the FCC and carriers trace back the origin of unlawful robocalls.

The law passed in the House earlier this month by a vote of 417 to 3, and it passed in the Senate by voice vote.

During the legislative debate, Congress put out a white paper with data on the extent of the robocall problem: In 2018, there were an estimated 48 billion robocalls, up over 64 percent since 2016, according to YouMail. Meanwhile, First Orion predicts that this year 44.6 percent of all calls to mobile phones will be scam calls.

In a statement, the cloud communications company Twilio said the legislation should have a notable impact: "The law will aid efforts among law enforcement authorities, government agencies and the communications industry to stop the bad calls and restore consumers' faith that they will receive the calls they want. With its strong emphasis on the implementation of the SHAKEN/STIR protocol and consumer protection efforts, we expect to see a dramatic change in the robocall landscape in the next 12 to 18 months."

Have you been affected by rubbish delays? Email: lara.keay@mailonline.co.uk

Families are now facing a four-week wait for bin collections after mountains of post-Christmas rubbish continue to pile up on Britain's streets as councils blame 'staff sickness'.

Hundreds of households in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, have been left swamped in recycling waste after disruption to their collection timetable continues.

The scenes have been made even worse after New Year's Eve celebrations caused bottle banks to overflow, particularly in Ellesmere Port and Chester, Cheshire.

Mountains of rubbish that were left to pile up on Britain's streets over Christmas have now been made even worse after New Year's Eve celebrations have caused bottle banks to overflow. Pictured: Rubbish on a street in Balsall Heath, Birmingham

Bottle banks at Sainsbury's in Ellesmere Port (left) and Morrisons in Chester (right), Cheshire, are also now overflowing

In Birmingham, residents are still battling with post-Christmas rubbish after the scheduled date on Monday, December 30 was missed.

Have you been affected by rubbish delays? Email: lara.keay@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

Some households will now be forced to go four weeks without a recycling collection with many New Year's Day collections also being re-arranged and postponed.

One man who lives in Balsall Heath claims he had already seen rats chewing waste from split bin bags.

He said: 'It's an absolute disgrace that once again people in Birmingham are not having their rubbish collected.

In Birmingham, residents are still battling with post-Christmas rubbish after the scheduled collection date on Monday, December 30 was missed

Rubbish continues to go uncollected on the streets in Birmingham (left) as trolleys were left at recycling points in Cheshire laden with cardboard beer boxes (right)

Birmingham City Council took to social media to blame staff sickness and absence for the missed pick-ups. Pictured: Residential street in Balsall Heath, Birmingham

'I walked outside yesterday and saw two large rats chewing at a meat carcass that had spilled out of an over-filled bin bag.

'It was like this when the bin men went on strike and now we're being told they had to reduce collections due to staff illness.

'How convenient that so many staff go down with a bug over Christmas. It's disgusting.'

Another resident from Sparkbrook, just one mile from Balsall Heath, said that two large bins were overflowing to such an extent that it had created a grotesque arch of bursting black bags.

She said: 'It's a seriously grim sight at this time of year.

'I refuse to let my children play outside in case they get bitten by vermin or fall over the piles of rubbish. The council are hopeless.'

One man who lives in Balsall Heath claims he had already seen rats chewing waste from split bin bags

Another resident in Birmingham said that two large bins were overflowing to such an extent that it had created a grotesque arch of bursting black bags

Birmingham City Council took to social media to blame staff sickness and absence for the missed pick-ups.

The authority posted a tweet which read: 'Due to staff sickness/absence some bin rounds not completed today – apologies if yours was missed.

'Please leave bins out. If not collected within 48hrs, take back in until next scheduled collection.'

Birmingham City Council later encouraged residents to take their waste to the rubbish tip themselves which caused long delays at recycling plants

Frustrated residents took to social media to demand a better service. Pictured: Residential street in Birmingham

But this was met with an angry response by residents who demanded a better service.

One user, @IainMGrant, replied: 'Just seen that you don't intend to collect our recycling until January 10.

'Why is Birmingham City Council only collecting recycling once a month?'

Another, @Hexcaliber, wrote: 'You missed other collections too, our bins were already full prior to Christmas. A complete farce.'

Birmingham City Council later encouraged residents to take their waste to the rubbish tip themselves.

It wrote: 'Planning a trip to the tip? We know some sites have been busy post-Christmas.

'Our five household recycling centres are open daily this week (proof of Birmingham residence is required).'

But residents were once again left disgruntled after having to sit in queues for up to half an hour just to be able to get inside the plant.

Huge piles of rubbish were also spotted yesterday as they swamped a Sainsbury's supermarket in Maypole, near Birmingham.

Residents were forced to leave toy sets, wrapping paper and food waste strewn on the ground as there was no longer space in the allocated bins.

Residents were once again left disgruntled after having to sit in queues for up to half an hour just to be able to get inside the recycling plants

These are just the latest in a long-line of contentions over Birmingham's waste collection system.

Around 350 binmen, who are part of the Unite union, went on strike in February 2019 in an escalating dispute over pay.

It stemmed from claims that those who took part in an original period of walkouts over three months in 2017 had been 'blacklisted' and that those who had not, had received extra payments.

A spokeswoman for Birmingham City Council said: 'In recent months, much positive progress had been made in respect of a reduced number of missed bin collections in the city.

'In the seven working days before Christmas we had a daily average of 14 roads per day where collections were reported as dropped.

'The festive period has always been a challenge with on average one third of extra waste collected each day. This stretches the service at a time when staff want time with their friends and families.

Pictured: A huge pile of Christmas rubbish and recycling that has formed at Sainsbury's in Maypole, near Birmingham

The huge pile of waste near Birmingham collected after services failed to collect the refuse following the festive period

'In the first two days on which collections were scheduled after Christmas (December 30-31), we have had 276 dropped roads reported by our depots. This was due to a number of factors, the extra waste, access issues and staffing.

'The performance immediately after Christmas is also despite the fact that crews previously working on the garden waste service have been kept on to strengthen the resources available for regular waste and recycling services at this peak time.

'We would like to reiterate our apologies to households that have been affected and be assured we are making every effort to catch up as soon as possible.

'If your bin is not collected within 48 hours of its scheduled collection, please take it back on to your property for collection on the next scheduled date for the type of bin/s in question.

'An alternative for those with access to a vehicle is to visit one of our five Household Recycling Centres – but please be aware that as during any festive period, they can be busy at peak times.'

A large plush Dulux-style dog is seen lording over the masses of cardboard boxes at the site near Sainsbury's in Maypole

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: 'Staff sickness during the holiday period has created some staff shortages and Ansa, the council's environmental services company, wishes to apologise to residents whose collections were missed.

'We ask those households affected to leave their bins out so that their refuse can be collected as soon as possible.

'Our household recycling centres have not been affected by the shortages and continued to operate normally in accordance with the publicised hours, only closing on Christmas Day itself.

'As usual we experienced greater demand owing to the time of year, with no reports of any difficulties experienced by residents wishing to access this service.'

Have you been affected by rubbish delays? Email: lara.keay@mailonline.co.uk

Kim Jong-un says the world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by North Korea in the near future - KCNA via KNS

North Korea is to abandon its moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, Kim Jong-un has announced.

Addressing a meeting with party officials, the North Korean leader also said the country would unveil a new strategic weapon in the new future, the country's official KCNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

"There is no ground for us to get unilaterally bound to the commitment any longer," he is quoted as saying.

"The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future."

North Korea has not tested a long-range missile or nuclear warhead since 2017 under a self-imposed moratorium.

But in recent weeks the North Koreans had been more bellicose as tensions escalated on the Korean peninsula.

Kim had signalled that Pyongyang was preparing a "gift" which would be unveiled if the US failed to make significant concessions in negotiations by the end of the year.

He paved the way for the move at a meeting of 300 top officials.

The North Koreans had been demanding the lifting of sanctions as a price for stepping up the pace of peace talks which appeared to have stalled.

His announcement will be a blow for Donald Trump who thought personal diplomacy could end decades of hostility.

A series of summits raised hopes that the US president's unconventional diplomatic approach could bear fruit.

Mr Trump, who had derided Kim as "Rocket Man", struck a different note over the summer praising the leader of the rogue regime.

The US president on Tuesday said he believed Kim would stick to his commitments on denuclearisation.

"We did sign a contract, talking about denuclearisation. That was the number one sentence, 'denuclearisation', that was done in Singapore. I think he's a man of his word," a tuxedo-wearing Mr Trump told reporters before heading into New Year festivities at his holiday retreat in Florida.

In Florida Mr Trump repeated his previous comments that he and Kim "like" each other and have a very good relationship.

"He is representing his country. We will do what we have to do," he added.

Hopes had been raised further when the two men met at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) which divides North and South Korea at the end of June.

The US president maintained that the suspension of nuclear tests was evidence that his approach had succeeded where others had failed and that Kim could be persuaded to give up his nuclear arsenal.

In Washington officials had sought to play down the threat from Pyongyang, despite the increasingly aggressive noises coming from North Korea.

But in recent months relations have worsened and the North Korean leader struck a harsh note at the meeting of the ruling Workers Party.

"The US is raising demands contrary to the fundamental interests of our state and is adopting brigandish attitude," KCNA cited him as saying.

"We can never sell our dignity," he added, saying Pyongyang would "shift to a shocking actual action to make (the US) pay for the pains sustained by our people".

Kim added that "if the US persists in its hostile policy toward the DPRK, there will never be the denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK will steadily develop necessary and prerequisite strategic weapons for the security of the state until the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy," according to the agency.

Kim and President Donald Trump have met three times since June 2018, but negotiations have faltered since the collapse of their second summit last February in Vietnam.

The North announced in December that it performed two "crucial" tests at its long-range rocket launch site that would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent, prompting speculation that it was developing an ICBM or planning a satellite launch that would provide an opportunity to advance its missile technologies.

North Korea also last year ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity by testing a slew of solid-fuel weapons that potentially expanded its capabilities to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including U.S. military bases there.

At least nine people died as Jakarta was hit with severe flooding over the New Year.

Torrential rain soaked tens of thousands of revelers as they waited for New Year's Eve fireworks in Indonesia's capital. The rains led to flooding across the city.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo said the monsoon rains and rising rivers had submerged at least 90 neighborhoods.

Thousands of people were displaced by flooding and a domestic airport was closed after water levels reached up to 3 meters (10 feet) in several places.

Wibobo said some of the deaths were due to hypothermia, but also included a 16-year-old high school student who was electrocuted by a power line.

"My son's body was covered with newspaper when my two other children passed by," the teenager's father told AFP news agency.

Watch video 01:58 Indonesia: Where climate change is real

Rescue efforts

Indonesia's state electricity utility said it had switched off power to hundreds of districts to prevent further electrocutions.

"We're currently focusing on taking measures to ensure people's safety," Ikhsan Asaad, an official at state firm PLN, said.

Authorities have deployed about 120,000 rescuers to help evacuate those affected and install mobile water pumps. Further flooding is expected with downpours forecast for the coming day.

Read more: After the Indonesian tsunami: Cashing in on the dead

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan told reporters his administration would push ahead with infrastructure projects on two major rivers, including a dam and a sluice, to prevent flooding in the city of 30 million people.

This was the worst flooding since 2013 when dozens of people were killed in monsoon rains.

Watch video 03:29 Indonesia building earthquake-proof homes with bamboo

aw, ed/mm (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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A person has died after being struck by a train at Dunmurry in Belfast.

The tracks have been closed in both directions as police examine the area.

#TRAIN #TragicIncident the line between Lisburn and Great Victoria Street the line remains closed. A bus sub is in place between Lisburn and Great Victoria Street. For more info click here https://t.co/wAtZTh4lku Get live info for your train journey online https://t.co/aR2y8ADST6 — Translink (@Translink_NI) 31 December 2019

Translink reported disruption to trains on its Bangor to Portadown railway line following a “tragic incident”.

PSNI officers carry lights as they attend Dunmurry railway station in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person died after being struck by a train. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Translink tweeted: “Due to a tragic incident at Dunmurry please allow for delays/disruption to trains on the Bangor to Portadown line”. – PA

Instruction: Retrieve semantically similar text.


Question:
On February 28, federal prosecutors will announce whether they plan to retry four people who spent 37 days in the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2019 to protect it from an illegal invasion by the U.S. government. The first trial of Adrienne Pine, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese and David Paul, who were charged with “interfering with the protective functions” of the State Department, ended in a hung jury on February 14.

The Trump administration has been trying to engineer a coup d’état against the lawfully elected Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro and install the U.S. puppet Juan Guaidó. To that end, Washington continues to impose unlawful, punishing sanctions against Venezuela that have contributed to “the largest economic collapse in a country outside of war since at least the 1970s,” according to The New York Times. The sanctions have led to the deaths of at least 40,000 Venezuelans. On February 13, Venezuela filed a complaint against the United States in the International Criminal Court, claiming that the sanctions constitute crimes against humanity.

Pine, Flowers, Zeese and Paul, who are members of the Embassy Protection Collective, stayed in the embassy with permission of the Venezuelan government until U.S. law enforcement illegally evicted them on May 16, 2019. They were part of a group of 70 people. The rest had left after the U.S. government cut off water and electricity and refused to allow food into the embassy.

The embassy raid violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which forbids U.S. agents from entering the Venezuelan embassy without the consent of the Maduro government. The raid also violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), which requires that the U.S. government “respect and protect the consular premises,” including the property therein. The VCCR provides that if diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States are broken, they could agree to entrust the custody of the embassy to a third country. Although such a protecting power agreement was being negotiated by the United States, Venezuela, Switzerland and Turkey, the U.S. government opted instead to storm the embassy and arrest the protectors.

At trial, Chief Judge Beryl Howell refused to admit significant relevant evidence. She limited what the jury heard to events that took place between May 13, when a trespass notice was served on the protectors in the embassy, through their May 16 arrest. Flowers spoke to two jurors after the trial — the foreperson who voted to convict and a lawyer who voted to acquit. “They were very curious about the facts of the case. They were totally confused,” Flowers told Truthout. “When I explained that Maduro is the president, not Guaidó, and that this is a failed U.S. coup and the U.S. violated international law by raiding the embassy, the foreperson said she would have voted to acquit us in two minutes if she had known the full story.” The judge excluded that evidence because she thought “it would confuse the jury,” Flowers said. “In the end, it was the absence of those facts that created confusion. The jury said that the case didn’t make sense to them.”

The judge advised the jury that Guaidó was president of Venezuela because of a law that says the U.S. president decides whom to recognize as the leader of a foreign government. For more than a year, Trump has been trying to carry out illegal regime change in Venezuela. In a moment of rare (but shameful) bipartisanship, Trump was given a standing ovation by Democratic as well as Republican members of Congress during his 2020 State of the Union address when he introduced Guaidó as the president of Venezuela.

“The foreperson said she would have voted to acquit us in two minutes if she had known the full story.”

Trump’s federal prosecutors will in all likelihood retry the four embassy protectors. “A second trial raises the stakes for the Trump administration,” Ajamu Baraka, co-chair of the Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee, said in a statement. “The world is seeing the charade of a trial based on the false claim that Guaidó is president when he has not been president for one nanosecond and is no longer even the president of the National Assembly. A second prosecution will look vindictive and a second mistrial or an acquittal will be a blow to the failed coup which is already on its last legs.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to mount a campaign of aggression against Venezuela. Frustrated with its inability to execute regime change, the Trump administration is reportedly considering a naval blockade to overthrow the Maduro government. A military blockade would violate the United Nations Charter, which forbids the use or threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another country. And the Charter of the Organization of American States prohibits a nation from intervening in the internal or external affairs of another country.

Whether the four protectors are ultimately retried, the Embassy Protection Collective has focused international attention on the Trump administration’s illegal attempts to change Venezuela’s government and punishment of its people with unlawful sanctions. The Embassy Protectors Defense Committee is calling for all charges to be dropped against the four protectors and is seeking support for their legal defense. Both the White House and members of Congress should be confronted over the illegal and immoral aggression that the U.S. is perpetrating against the people of Venezuela.

Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

A jury of 12 Washington D.C. residents were deadlocked over the issue of the embassy defenders on February 14, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial in a blow to the federal government and to a judicial system that stacked the odds. The embassy defenders – Adrienne Pine, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese and David Paul – had been accused of “interfering with the protective functions” of the State Department after they, as part of the Embassy Protection Collective, had spent 37 days in the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC from April 11-May 16, protecting it from an illegal takeover by the U.S.-backed supporters of Juan Guaidó.

Chief Judge Beryl Howell overtly favored the prosecution by severely limiting the scope of the case, ruling that the defendants were limited to speaking only about events between May 13 and May 16. For context, the Embassy Protection Collective began staying in the building on April 11. All was peaceful until April 30, when coup supporters surrounded the Embassy and attacked the embassy protectors with physical and verbal abuse, as well as death threats, and were put under a joint siege by the police and coup supporters (the latter of which did all they could to prevent food from being delivered into the premises). On May 8 the electricity and water were cut off. On May 13, they received a trespass “notice” (a piece of paper with no official letterhead, signature or seal that was most likely written in Spanish and translated) and were asked – but not ordered – to leave the premises by police. On May 16, they were arrested, when, in violation of international law, federal agents in swat-style gear raided the Venezuelan Embassy.

Judge Howell’s pre-trial decisions to severely limit the defense from putting the arrest in context ensured a bias that many observers considered impossible to overcome in a jury trial. The embassy defenders were not allowed to say that Nicolás Maduro is the president of Venezuela. They were not allowed to talk about international law, including the Vienna Convention (which prohibits entry into another country’s embassy, even in times of war). They were not allowed to talk about the protecting power agreement (an agreement for third countries to ensure the safety of embassies in Caracas and D.C.) that was being negotiated by the U.S., Switzerland, Turkey and Venezuela. They were not allowed to mention that President Maduro, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, Vice Minister Carlos Ron and U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada had all authorized their stay in the embassy. They were not allowed to discuss the fact that the Trump and Maduro administrations had been in contact throughout April and May. They were not allowed to discuss the blatant cooperation between law enforcement and Guaidó supporters in D.C. They were not allowed to discuss Guaidó’s corruption and connections to paramilitary drug cartels. They were not allowed to question Guaidó’s legitimacy. In short, they were not allowed to tell the whole truth.

The partiality on brazen display against citizens who are supposedly presumed to be innocent made it clear that the justice system was doing its best to ensure justice would be denied – a true kangaroo court. Its subservience to the Trump administration’s crazy attempt to install an unelected president made this a court that supports regime change and a coup: a kanga-coup court. That this trial resulted in a hung jury means that U.S. citizens saw through the farce, just as Venezuelans saw through the farce represented by Juan Guaidó.

“Elections mean something”

In explaining that the U.S. constitution supposedly grants the president authority to recognize a foreign government, the judge defended this concept by claiming “elections mean something.” Those of us in the audience found it hard not to laugh out loud. Elections mean something, except when a U.S. adversary wins and the U.S. then decides to just name someone else president, as in the case of Venezuela. In a courtroom in which the judge had ruled that “Boliviarian” Republic of Venezuela was too confusing and therefore the country was to only be referred to as Venezuela, the “president” of Venezuela is Juan Guaidó and the question isn’t up for debate. This isn’t surprising, given that Guaidó recently attended the State of the Union, was applauded by Representative Nancy Pelosi and other “regime change” Democrats, met with President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Pompeo, USAID administrator Mark Green, OAS Secretary General Almagro and had a 2-3 thousand people rally in Miami.

The reality, of course, is wildly different inside Venezuela. There, after his “successful” global tour, he was greeted at a rally by merely 500 people, which is actually a big improvement to rallies just a few months where he was cursing the fact that same dozen or two “jerks” were the only ones to show up to events. At the height of Guaidós’s popularity (roughly 2014-2015), the opposition drew massive crowds of tens of thousands. Pro-government rallies routinely turn out tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

While Guaidó may have looked presidential during his U.S. tour, the façade was broken within minutes of landing in Venezuela. Airlines workers of Conviasa, which was recently sanctioned by Trump, confronted him at the airport, leaving him shaken and drenched in sweat—a “’president” afraid of his own people.

That Guaidó has fallen so low is an indictment of an extremist right-wing opposition that seeks to punish the working class by supporting sanctions, sabotage of basic services (last week a warehouse containing telecommunications equipment was set on fire, while the next day a Metro line was out of service after a cable line was cut), and threats of war.

Incompetence mirrors incompetence

The failure of Guaidó, the opposition and the Trump administration is also indicative of their incompetence and utter confusion regarding the reality of Venezuela. This incompetence mirrors the incompetence of the U.S. government in the sham trial of the embassy defenders.

Prosecutors attempted to pull a bait and switch on the jury, building their case on an allegation that the final four – las Margaret, Kevin, David and Adrienne are affectionately called – were trespassing in the Embassy, while the actual charge was a misdemeanor for “interfering with protective functions.” At least some members of the jury were clearly perplexed by this, asking the judge for clarification of whether trespassing could be perceived as interfering.

Although the answer should have been a clear “no”, the judge obfuscated and left them more confused than before they asked the question. The jurors then brought up a seeming contradiction between the law and the judge’s instructions. The law regarding interfering with protective functions requires that alleged perpetrators “knowingly and willfully” interfered, while the judge instructed the jury that the defendants did not have to have knowledge of the statute in order to be convicted. One observer characterized the judge’s response to the jury on this issue as “a riddle.”

A bewildering judge and a bumbling prosecution led to a deadlocked jury. Three jurors voted to acquit, and they must be praised for recognizing that the government was trying to railroad the defendants. It offers proof that people of conscience can thwart a government intent on criminalizing peace activism. We should also recognize the defendant’s four lawyers, who managed to instill reasonable doubt against all odds.

The Embassy Protection Collective (EPC) brought people’s power to Washington, and it was only fitting that it was people’s power on the jury that led to a mistrial. Unfortunately, the mistrial is not quite the end of this ordeal. The final four have one last status hearing to determine if the prosecution will retry the case. David, Margaret, Kevin and Adrienne are deserving of our full solidarity and support. For me, as a Venezuelan who has spent the past dozen years helping my country fight U.S. imperialism, what these four people did, as well as what the entire Embassy Protection Collective did, has earned them my gratitude and admiration. It has also left me hopeful and inspired that we can build a movement in the United States to challenge a foreign policy of war and profits, replacing it with one of peace and dialogue.

*

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Leonardo Flores is Latin American policy expert and campaigner with CODEPINK.

Featured image: David Paul, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and Kevin Zeese outside of their courtroom in D.C.

A Kentucky lawmaker filed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana as a way of providing funding for the state's debt-ridden employee pension fund.

December 31, 2019 4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In an era of political polarization, the legalization of recreational marijuana has fallen for the most part along blue state-red state lines. That is, blue states do it and red states don’t. But that could potentially change with Kentucky.

A Kentucky lawmaker has filed legislation that would create a legal recreational cannabis system in the state. A driving force behind the proposal is to use taxes generated from cannabis sales to fund the retirement system for state employees, as well as the state teachers’ retirement fund.

Rep. Cluster Howard, the Democrat who filed the bill, said other states have shown that “legalizing cannabis for adult use is a win-win situation for everyone involved,” according to WKYT CBS. He added, “It’s a major revenue generator; it frees up critical jail and prison space; it helps counteract the deadly opioid epidemic; it gives farmers a major new cash crop. The longer we wait, the more we miss out on these benefits.”

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Marijuana Legalization For Adult Use Has Been A Blue State Thing

Like most progressive ideas, legalizing adult-use cannabis has been predominantly a blue state thing. And, even within those states, it’s something that gets most of its support in the metropolitan areas.

The 11 states that have legalized marijuana in the U.S. so far are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. All but two of them (Alaska and Michigan) were blue states in the 2016 election. Of the two, Alaska is the only one that is historically a red state. Michigan had been solidly blue since 1992, that is, until current President, Donald Trump, narrowly won the state in 2016.

States currently debating recreational marijuana legalization are New York and New Jersey, which are also blue states.

In contrast, Trump got 62.5 percent of the vote in Kentucky, one of the highest in the country. Kentucky hasn’t voted for a Democrat in the presidential election since Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Before that, it was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

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The Bill In Kentucky Would Fund An Employee Pension Plan

Why would Howard think his bill has a chance, given Kentucky’s conservative politics? Because he wants to use the popularity of marijuana to address a longstanding state issue.

Technically, he’s submitted a pre-filed bill for the 2020 legislative session. The proposal calls for 75 percent of cannabis tax and fee money collected by the state to fund the Kentucky Employee Retirement System, with 25 percent going towards the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System. Once both are fully funded, the split would move to 50-50.

That could take many years, however, as Howard said that the state’s employee retirement system is "the worst-funded pension fund in the nation." The plan has $13.6 billion in unfunded liabilities, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Added Howard to the Courier-Journal, “All I hear is you're not going to raise that much. Well, it's a hell of a lot more than what we're raising now, which is zero.” In that sense, on the economic argument, it seems like a no-brainer.

But Howard seems to understand the fight he will likely face, adding, “it's not a moral issue. It's an economic issue. The people who run the House and the Senate in Frankfort are not going to be able to run from this."

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C. Vivian Stringer, who coaches Rutgers University's women's basketball team, sent condolences to radio host Don Imus' family on Tuesday in the wake of his December 27 death of complications from lung disease.

Imus had referred to members of the women's team by using a racial slur during a 2007 episode of his radio program. His comments had come in the wake of Rutgers' Scarlet Knights having lost an NCAA championship game to Nashville's Lady Volunteers.

Stringer acknowledged the controversy in her prepared comments to the press. "The Rutgers family has found peace through the years, and we are proud of our response to the hateful words that he had years ago. As African-American women, we don't feel that we should be treated ― or anyone else should be treated ― like that. We are proud of the positive change it has brought about and the lesson that came with it — women and African Americans should be treated with respect, not only in the media, but in all walks of life. It is our prayer that Don finds eternal peace in his passing and we wish his family strength.

"He genuinely felt, I think, remorse for the words he said. Everybody makes mistakes and says things that they shouldn't say. I think that our players learned a lot from that, and I'm proud of them and our basketball team," Stringer continued.

She also said that she had not thought of Imus' comments in years, but that "to say that it didn't hurt is not true."

Stringer admitted the controversy was permanently a part of her legacy as a Rutgers coach.

"I'm tied to that now. No getting around that. It is what it is. Proud of the way the team responded. Proud of the support we got from so many fans and people. Proud of the fact we stood up for what's right. All our players learned a really good lesson," she said.

She expressed forgiveness for his statements and turned an eye toward the future. "We accept it, and we move forward."

At the time, Imus had reacted to the controversy by saying "what I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context," according to The New York Times.

He was suspended from his own show for two weeks in the wake of those remarks. MSNBC, which simulcasted Imus' show on their network, also suspended broadcasts of his program, with executives calling the comments "racist and abhorrent" according to The New York Times. Imus agreed with the suspension, but insisted that he was "not a racist."

Stringer had called Imus' comments "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable" at the time.

Later, Imus met with Stringer, and according to Stringer said that he "didn't come to save his job but to save his soul."

What is a food desert? Imagine having to get all of your groceries from a gas station or local corner store bodega where you're forced to select bags of chips and frozen pizza as sustenance. This is the reality for the millions of citizens who live in food deserts in the United States. The United States lacks equal access to food across communities and food availability is scarce in portions of the country known as food deserts.

In 2014, the United States Department of Agriculture performed a food access study and defined a US food desert as an area where 33 percent of a city’s residents live more than one mile from a supermarket and 20 percent earn below the poverty line. Many residents of food desert locations do not have cars and lack access to public transportation, making them essentially unable to get to a grocery store. Food desert causes are mostly related to economics. Big chain supermarkets have a hard time turning a profit in impoverished areas, which results in places without food cropping up across the country. The effects are devastating. The obesity rates in these areas are generally higher, meaning life-threatening illnesses like diabetes and heart disease are on the rise. Luckily, new laws and various grassroots organizations are currently working to make healthy, affordable food available nationwide. On a local level, many cities have not just opened up food co-ops and food markets in impoverished areas. Local corner stores are also expanding their inventory. Instead of using all of their shelf space for junk food, they are providing more healthy fresh food options.

To learn more about the issue and what's being done, scan this list of the top food deserts in the United States.

After a long practice one day about a year ago, Southern University band director Kedric Taylor huddled his 200-plus-member squad for a quick message.

Zaid Soberanis-Ramos, a freshman at the time, didn’t expect much. He thought Taylor would give the team instructions for the weekend’s game or a critique of their practice that day. But when Taylor told the band, known as the “Human Jukebox,” that they had been selected to perform in the 2020 Rose Parade, Soberanis-Ramos’ heart leapt with excitement.

“I was in shock because we were going to be in my backyard,” said Soberanis-Ramos, a Compton native. “It’s something that I never thought I would do before. To be a part of this, it’s simply a blessing.”

Soberanis-Ramos, 19, said he always watched the Rose Parade on television growing up, but could never make the 23-mile drive to Pasadena to see the New Year’s Day festivities in person. Instead, choosing to attend a historically black university in Baton Rouge, La., unexpectedly had provided him with an opportunity he had dreamed of. Merely being in the parade, he said, “gives me hope.”

And that’s what this year’s parade is all about.

Tournament of Roses President Laura Farber thought of this year’s theme, “The Power of Hope,” with people like Soberanis- Ramos in mind. Farber, the first Latina to serve in the role, said she wanted to use her platform to promote diversity and inclusion.

The Human Jukebox, along with many of the other bands that will perform, embody that, she said. She’s excited for Southern California and the rest of the world to see that impact.

Zaid Soberanis-Ramos, right, adjusts his hat while waiting to perform with the Southern University Band during Bandfest at Pasadena City College. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

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“With the country and the world as divided as it is right now, we want hope to bring everyone together,” Farber said. “That’s what America’s New Year celebration does. Hope is a powerful concept, and we wanted to focus on that.”

The word “hope” had never been used in the previous 130 Rose Bowl themes, Farber said. Her life revolved around hope, she said, and she knew that the word would resonate with others if she centered the parade on it.

Farber was born in Argentina and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was young to escape the country’s military dictatorship that seized power in the mid-1970s. She graduated from UCLA in 1987 and then from Georgetown Law three years later. Today she’s a wife, mother and attorney in Pasadena. She volunteered for the Tournament of Roses for 26 years and slowly climbed the ranks.

Laura Farber, president of the 2020 Tournament of Roses, steps to the stage to announce the 2020 Royal Court. (Tim Berger/La Cañada Valley Sun)

With each passing year, she saw the leadership diversify. The past five years produced the first African American and the first Asian American presidents of the organization. Farber said the best part of the job is the people. Hearing their stories inspires her.

“Sometimes you don’t appreciate the impact of our events until you meet people and see how engaged they are,” Farber said. “It changes them, especially kids who have never left their towns or cities and are now playing on a big international stage.”

That description fits Soberanis-Ramos, who started playing the horn at Manuel Dominguez High in Compton.

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His parents, who immigrated from Mexico before he and his four younger siblings were born, never attended college and worked hard to support them, he said. He used band as a way to keep himself busy. He practiced for hours by himself, meticulously going over songs and honing his technique. He wanted to use music to better his life, he said.

“All the dedication and hard work started paying off,” he said. “It was getting me ready for the real world — the practices, the uniforms, the precision. When you see the joy on people’s faces when you do a song and their heads are bopping, it makes it all worth it.”

Soberanis-Ramos, a computer science major who wants to work with mobile technology, said that a friend told him about Southern University, and he began watching videos of the marching band on YouTube. He saw “one of the best bands in the world,” as Farber describes them.

Zaid Soberanis-Ramos, right, warms up with his 200-plus member squad, the Southern University marching band, a.k.a. the “Human Jukebox,” at Pasadena City College. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

The Southern University Band plays on the field at Bandfest at Pasadena City College. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

The band is used to performing at elite venues. Since its creation in 1947, it has played at Super Bowls, presidential inaugurations and the 1980 Rose Parade. Most famously, it headlined the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina. After researching and witnessing what the band stood for, Soberanis- Ramos knew that he wanted to be a part of it. He auditioned and was accepted.

Soberanis- Ramos said that attending a historically black university was eye-opening at first, noting the Southern hospitality that pervaded the campus. The positive energy and genuine sense of camaraderie gave him “a huge culture shock,” he said. He and his band mates now carry those unique feelings with them to Pasadena.

Bands from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) are known for their pride and competitiveness. In 2017, ESPN’s The Undefeated ranked the Human Jukebox as the best HBCU band in the country. It has called itself the “Human Jukebox” since the 1960s because it boasts that it can play the “Top 40” hits of the day.

Recently, it’s lived up to the name.

At Bandfest, a showcase of the parade bands on Dec. 30, they dressed in their powder uniforms and yellow capes, and moved across the whole field of Pasadena City College stadium, dipping and weaving into different formations while they performed Lil Nas’ hit “Old Town Road.” Farber even started dancing as she watched from the sideline.

Lizzo, the Associated Press entertainer of the year, featured the band in a December music video. It also performed at a church service and a Los Angeles Lakers halftime show in Staples Center while they were in Los Angeles.

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Members of the Southern University Marching Band gather their instruments at their busses for Bandfest at Pasadena City College. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Taylor said that Soberanis-Ramos is a great ambassador for the band, and he is happy they’ll play near the student’s hometown. Taylor also is glad that the Human Jukebox may provide some Californians with their first introduction to an HBCU band. He’s especially pleased that they are participating in this year of “Hope.”

“This theme fits our program to a T,” Taylor said. “God created all of us as equal, and when you have everybody on the same page and pulling in the same direction, you can accomplish way more.”

Soberanis- Ramos said it’s important to put on a performance that spectators won’t forget, especially given this year’s theme.

“I’m coming back home, and I want people here to see what HBCUs stand for and what we’re about,” he said. “I want them to see the passion we have and hopefully it will open their eyes. We’re carrying a lot of weight.”

Bands from Denmark, El Salvador, Japan and seven other counties will play at the parade, along with bands from 47 states. Farber said it was easy to pick Southern University when she and the music committee sifted through the pile of applications.

The 1 million people expected to watch the performance in person will be “blown away,” she said.

“It’s just going to lift everybody up,” she said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will open its first-ever housing unit for select inmates verified as U.S. veterans, which is expected to support successful transition post-release.

Housing Unit for Military Veterans (HUMV) at the Theo Lacy Facility will include 32 beds, patriotic-themed murals on the walls, 55-inch televisions, game room-style tables, and flags representing each branch of the military hung overhead.

To participate in HUMV, inmates must meet specific security criteria and agree to actively participate in the programming.

Inmates assigned to the unit will get access to additional privileges including more out-of-cell time and programming tailored to veterans such as peer mentoring, post-release employment resources and workshops, financial planning classes, and substance abuse services, among other programs.

HUMV inmates will be moved in starting January 2, 2020.

“This is not just a new housing unit with different paint on the walls. This is a program model designed to go one step further in better assisting those who have served our country,” said Sheriff Don Barnes. “The Sheriff’s Department dedicates much time and resources to build diverse and effective programming for all inmates with the hope that when released from custody, individuals will not recidivate.”

OCSD Correctional Programs has partnered with 10 agencies to provide programming for HUMV, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Tierney Center for Veteran Services, Working Wardrobes and the Orange County Probation Department, among others.

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