CRIMINAL CHARITY COVER UP
Prince Charles' charity faces fresh investigation after reported donations from Russian banker

A Scottish regulator said it was investigating one of Prince Charles' charities after a UK newspaper reported that a Russian banker had tried to donate a six-figure sum to the future king's foundation.

© David Rose/WPA Pool/Getty Images 

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales greets well-wishers as he visits the Burton Art Gallery and art center on July 21, 2021 in Bideford, United Kingdom.

By Hannah Ryan and Martin Goillandeau, CNN 

The Sunday Times reported that Prince Charles wrote a thank-you letter to Dmitry Leus and offered to meet him in person after receiving a large donation for The Prince's Foundation in May 2020.

In the letter, Charles reportedly wrote that he was "incredibly grateful" for Leus' "immense generosity" and that the donation had given him "great comfort," the Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper said Leus had been found guilty in Russia of money-laundering but his conviction was later overturned. Leus, who is reportedly seeking British citizenship, made his donations after a fixer promised a private meeting with Prince Charles at a Scottish castle, the Sunday Times reported.

A spokesperson for Leus confirmed his conviction was struck out in 2007 and said Leus "has a completely clean criminal record."

The Sunday Times said there was no evidence that Prince Charles was aware of any deception around the donation.

When the foundation's ethics committee raised concerns over Leus' background, his donations were reportedly diverted to Children & the Arts, another charity of which Charles is a patron, the Sunday Times reported.

According to Sunday Times, Children & the Arts denied knowing anything about the money.

CNN was not able to independently verify the Sunday Times' reporting.

A spokesperson for Leus told CNN Leus has made "two separate donations together totalling £500,000" to the Prince's charity via a fixer, the Burke's Peerage.

"Mr Leus has now learned that not all of these funds were then transferred on to the Prince's Foundation. No funds at all were returned to him from Burke's Peerage," the spokesperson told CNN, adding: "Mr Leus did not know of, or consent to, his donation being transferred to the Children's Arts Foundation [and other organizations]. Had he been consulted, he would have chosen to use the money to help the many vulnerable children and young people that the Leus Family Foundation supports across the UK."

The donations were "intended to support their educational and heritage goals," the spokesperson said, adding that Leus' only additional goal for the contribution was "private hope that eventually cooperation might take place to create a National Fencing Centre."

CNN has reached to Burke's Peerage for comment.

Douglas Connell, chair of The Prince's Foundation said it was taking the allegations "very seriously."

"Following the publication of an initial allegation relating to 'middlemen' and donors the Trustees instigated a full and rigorous investigation with the assistance of Forensic Accountants from one of the 'big four' accountancy firms," he said in a statement provided to CNN.

"This investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage," he said, adding that full review is expected to take several weeks.

According to a source with knowledge of donations to the charity, the foundation received a donation of £100,000 on behalf of Leus in May 2020. The source said the amount was returned to the sender following a meeting of the Foundation's Ethics Committee in September 2020.

In a statement on Sunday, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) said it had written to Prince's Foundation trustees informing them that they would investigate the claims around Leus' donations.

The watchdog said it had been "working with the Prince's Foundation ...to better understand the use of the organization's funds, and to gain a full understanding of the work which is being undertaken by the charity's trustees to investigate the range of issues which have been raised."

The allegations come a week after a former top aide to Charles voluntarily stepped down as head of The Prince's Foundation amid claims of misconduct reported in last week's Sunday Times.

Michael Fawcett, the British heir's longest-serving and closest aide, was accused of using his position and influence to help a Saudi businessman obtain an honorary title in exchange for donations, the Sunday Times reported last Sunday.

Prince Charles "has no knowledge of the alleged offer of honors or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities and fully supports the investigation now underway by The Prince's Foundation," a Clarence House spokesperson told CNN on Monday.

The developments come at the end of a bruising week for the royal family. On Friday, lawyers for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a woman who says she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew as a minor, said they served him with legal papers for a civil lawsuit. Andrew has previously denied similar allegations made by Giuffre.

Cyndi Lauper Speaks Out for Women’s Rights at 2021 MTV VMAs
Jennifer Drysdale‍ 20 hrs ago

© ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Cyndi Lauper is representing for the ladies at the MTV Video Music Awards. The legendary singer delivered an important message while presenting at the awards show on Sunday.

"How are you doing? I won a moon person at the very first VMAs in 1984. Things are a little different now," Lauper said at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. "Yeah, girls wanna have fun. But we also want to have funds. Equal pay. Control over our bodies! You know, fundamental rights."

Lauper's message was powerful but brief, as she then presented Best Pop to Justin Bieber, Daniel Caesar and Giveon for "Peaches." Lauper's note really stuck with fans, though.

In an interview with ET's Rachel Smith after hopping off stage, Lauper reflected on being a champion for women, and ensuring the video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" represented "all girls."

"I worked really hard to get 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' to represent all girls, so that all girls could see themselves," she shared. "I wanted to capture that, and I've got to say, we were the little engine that could. I was up for seven awards that year, didn't win one."

"[But] I was there, and I got to make this performance art," she recalled.

The singer also praised MTV for its lasting legacy on music. "You would never just listen to music again," she said of the network's launch 40 years ago. You would see it."

UCP KENNEY MIA
Day surgeries in Edmonton cancelled, only priority cancer, urgent and emergent surgeries being done: AHS

Ashley Joannou 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal The Alberta Health Services logo.

All day surgeries in the Edmonton Zone have been postponed this week as Alberta continues to deal with an increase in COVID-19 cases across the province during the fourth wave of the pandemic.

In a statement early Monday, Alberta Health Services spokesperson Kerry Williamson said hospitals would only be providing priority cancer, urgent and emergent surgeries, meaning up to 70 per cent of surgeries would be affected.

The move was made “in order to have sufficient ICU and inpatient capacity to manage the increased COVID activity across the zone and the province,” he said.

“Patients who are impacted will be contacted and their procedures will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”

Williamson said cancelling the surgeries will free up space for patients who require inpatient and critical care and allow staff to be redeployed where they’re needed.

The Edmonton Zone has opened an additional 54 ICU surge beds bringing its total number of critical care beds to 126.

“We are able to staff these beds and respond to critical care needs for the Edmonton Zone as well as support the North and Central Zones, who have less ability to create additional critical care capacity. As of Sunday at 1pm, 111 of the 126 ICU beds were filled, Williamson said.

Alberta has the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the country.

“This situation continues to be very serious, and we would like to remind all Albertans that we need their help in reducing the transmission of COVID-19 in the community, which in turn will reduce strain on the healthcare system,” Williamson said.

Data from over the weekend is expected to be released Monday afternoon. As of Friday, the province had 16,265 active cases up from 15,977 active cases as of Thursday.

Experts skeptical of direct impact from Alberta's $100 COVID-19 vaccine incentive as numbers show some upticks

Experts are skeptical Alberta’s $100 vaccine incentive will have a big impact on the province’s immunization rates, with one public health leader calling the move “worthless.”

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

 Premier Jason Kenney removes his mask prior to announcing the province’s new COVID measures at McDougall Centre in Calgary on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

Lisa Johnson 

Edmonton Journal

On Sept. 3, amid stagnant vaccination rates, Premier Jason Kenney announced anyone who gets a first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccine until Oct. 14 will be eligible to receive a $100 pre-loaded debit card.

Alberta Health has said those Albertans can begin registering for their debit cards online or by phone Monday. The latest provincial numbers show there have been slight bumps in the number of total vaccines administered in some days following the announcement, but experts say it’s difficult to attribute them to the incentive, which they say likely won’t have a huge impact.

Alberta administered 7,848 doses of vaccine Saturday and 4,129 on Sunday of the Labour Day long weekend, up from 6,435 doses on Aug. 28 and 3,317 on Aug. 29. However, the holiday Monday saw the total number of doses fall by almost half from the previous Monday. On Tuesday, they were up about nine per cent from the previous week.

Dr. James Talbot, a former Alberta chief medical officer of health and co-chairman of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association’s (EZMSA) pandemic committee, told Postmedia the incentive is “worthless,” and blamed the province’s low vaccination rates on mixed messaging and a lack of effective measures from the government.

“Everything that the government has done since July 1, when they threw out all of the precautions, has led us to where we are today,” said Talbot, estimating the province is two weeks away from breaking previous pandemic highs in hospitalization and ICU numbers.

Lisa Glover, spokeswoman for Alberta Health, said in a statement Sunday that it will take time to see “the effect on people’s choices.”

Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta, said it doesn’t appear that there’s been a big uptick from the $100 gift card offer, but it’s early days and difficult to pinpoint people’s motivations.

“The challenge in trying to determine how much of an effect that’s had is that at the same time as that was announced, there’s a number of private companies that are also mandating vaccines,” she said.

Several large Alberta employers, from Alberta Health Services to WestJet, have brought in mandatory vaccination measures for employees , and major sports teams and venues like Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Elks have said fans will soon need to provide proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend events.

“If there’s an increase in uptake, is it related to the $100 gift card or is it related to the fact that you now have to be vaccinated in order to go to a football game?” Smith said, adding potential barriers to access faced by marginalized people like those experiencing homelessness could affect registration for the cash incentive.

University of Alberta law professor and health policy expert Timothy Caulfield told Postmedia the paid incentive is interesting, and there is data to support the idea , but the research is mixed.

“The challenge for this government is that incentives work best on individuals that are complacent, undecided, or only somewhat hesitant. They won’t have a big impact on the hardcore deniers,” he said in an email, adding the strategy is frustrating, especially when provincial mandates and vaccine passports can help.

Talbot also pointed to the effectiveness of vaccine passports, or proof of vaccination requirements to enter non-essential spaces, in other provinces. B.C. and Ontario reported as much as a 200 per cent increase in the days following their vaccine passport announcements.

Smith said it takes about six weeks for vaccines to provide immunity, so a vaccine passport on its own won’t curb the current wave of soaring COVID-19 cases.

“For the current situation we’re in right now, and the current crisis, there’s very little that’s going to actually make a big impact in terms of bending the curve right now related to vaccine passports,” she said.

Singh criticizes Trudeau's "broken promises" on drinking water for First Nations

SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says no excuse is acceptable for the Liberals' failure to deliver on their 2015 promise to lift all drinking water advisories in First Nations communities.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Speaking to reporters in Sioux Lookout, about 230 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., Singh said he is not dismissing that it's hard to reach rural communities, but Canada's wealth and technology are sufficient enough to lift all remaining drinking advisories.

"These Indigenous people continue to be denied a basic human right of drinking water," Singh said.

"It doesn't have to be this way."

Singh will be campaigning later in Neskantaga First Nation, which had a drinking water advisory issued more than 25 years ago.

Neskantaga First Nation Chief Wayne Moonais said in a press release his communities will be welcoming Singh for the second time in a month to have a first-hand view of the effects the 26-year water advisory has on the conditions in the community.

In 2015, Trudeau promised to lift all long-term drinking-water advisories by March 2021. His government acknowledged in December that the deadline would be missed despite the lifting of more than 100 long-term drinking-water advisories in five years.

In March, the Liberal government said it remains committed to ending all the advisories but it won’t set a new deadline, as 52 long-term drinking-water advisories in 33 First Nations communities are still in place.

Singh didn't offer specifics on how he would end the remaining drinking water advisories more quickly than the Liberals, but he said he will make it a priority if elected.

"It is not a problem for a G7 nation when it comes to resources, it's not an issue of access to technology, it's not an access to resources question, it's really making it a priority question, and that's what we'll do," he said.

Singh also criticized the Liberals' progress on emission levels and housing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021.

The Canadian Press

For NDP, optimism in Halifax is more than skin deep: 'It feels very positive'

Anja Karadeglija 

LONG READ 

© Provided by National Post 

NDP candidate Lisa Roberts says her Halifax riding is where the NDP stand “the best and most obvious chance.”

As Lisa Roberts canvasses in Halifax’s North End, part of her election campaign pitch is to harken back to when the riding was an NDP stronghold.

Roberts tells those who answer the door that she is trying to win back the riding previously held by Alexa McDonough and then Megan Leslie. McDonough looms large in both the political history of the region and of the NDP; she was the first woman to lead a major political party in Canada when she took the helm of the Nova Scotia NDP 40 years ago and then led the federal NDP for eight years, stepping down in 2003.

Roberts has a history of her own in the area, having twice been elected as the provincial MLA in Halifax Needham.

“It feels very positive and possible,” she says in an interview, sitting on a bench in a shady neighbourhood park. “Halifax is where we stand the best and most obvious chance, but I’m doing what I can to boost the other NDP candidates across the province.”

Those candidates include 25-year-old Jenna Chisholm, who is hoping to take back the riding of Sackville–Preston–Chezzetcook, previously held by NDP MP Peter Stoffer for nearly 20 years.

Chisholm has been involved with the NDP at the local level since she was 15, working both federal and provincial elections — her first tattoo was a quote from former NDP leader Jack Layton. “I have ‘love is better than anger, hope is better than fear, optimism is better than despair’ tattooed on the middle of my back,” she says. “For a lot of people, their first tattoo is something they regret, but for me it’s something that I still stand by every day.”

After the Liberals swept Atlantic Canada in 2015, the NDP lost all six of their seats in the region. In 2019, the party clawed back one of those when Jack Harris regained his St. John’s seat.

But now the NDP has generally been polling higher in this campaign, at around 20 per cent, compared to the 16 per cent of the popular vote it received in the last election. The party won’t share how many seats it’s hoping to win this time, but some projections based on the polling numbers show that it could add more than a dozen new MPs on Sept. 20.

In a campaign where the Liberals and Conservatives have been neck-and-neck, and where the possibility of a minority Parliament is ever present, each new NDP riding in this region could be critical if the party is to hold the balance of power.

The party is hoping some of those seats could come from the Halifax area. In the riding of Halifax and Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, the NDP came in second to the Liberal winners in 2019, while others were more of a three-way race with Conservative challengers.

Roberts is facing off with Liberal incumbent Andy Fillmore, who won the riding with a 12-per-cent margin over the NDP candidate last time around. As Roberts canvasses the North End, Fillmore is in the city’s Cowie Hill neighbourhood.

Since his election in 2015, Fillmore has had a chance to build relationships in the riding. One couple in a rowhouse thank him for his help with a passport issue their son was having, but they’re still not sure whether they’ll vote Liberal this time – though the woman concedes it may not be a good time to change governments.

Another pitch of Fillmore’s – like the wider Liberal campaign – is to talk about the Liberal record of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. A younger woman standing outside with her dog doesn’t know which way she plans to vote either. She agrees with Fillmore that his government did a good job with the pandemic, but she’s less sure about the party’s record on other issues, like climate.

“I’m going to keep on having conversations, right up until the day of the election, and remind people of the good work that I’ve been able to do here in Halifax for them, and the good work that the Liberal government has done across the country,” Fillmore says in an interview.

Fillmore is predicting the battle in Atlantic Canada will be between the NDP and the Liberal Party. He says the three “headliners at the door” are climate, health care and housing.

Voters are “going to be looking for the most credible platform and the most credible record on those matters. So I think my job is to, again, highlight what we’ve been able to achieve,” Fillmore says. That includes federal investment; the riding of Halifax “went from very near the bottom of the barrel, in terms of federal investment, to the fifth most-invested-in federal riding in the country” after the Liberals were elected in 2015, he notes.

Those three issues are part of Roberts’ campaign as well. While she’s canvassing, two youth, a woman with a career in the arts, and a small group of seniors sitting in the shade outside of their apartment building, all bring up their concerns about housing costs.

Roberts argues that the health care transfer system, “that was negotiated under Stephen Harper, but executed and implemented under Justin Trudeau, does not work for Nova Scotia. We have an aging demographic that is getting even older, and our health care funding is per capita.”

She says one issue over which the NDP may be able to attract voters at the expense of the Liberals is climate change. “I think the disappointing track record on climate change is a very significant one for all kinds of voters,” she says.

“The Greens put a lot of effort into Halifax in the last election, and I don’t think that they will be a significant factor in this election. I think the NDP in Halifax, at least, is likely to be the destination for some of those voters.”

One challenge for Roberts is that the campaign comes at a time when university students are moving, meaning some will have just arrived and will have to prove residence in Halifax. This is a particular concern for the NDP, who generally tends to do better with younger voters, a demographic the party has been targeting in the lead up to and during the election.

© Anja Karadeglija/National Post 

In Sackville–Preston–Chezzetcook, 25-year-old Jenna Chisholm is hoping to bring the riding back to the NDP. The candidate says her first tattoo was a quote by Jack Layton.

It’s also a demographic Chisholm, in Sackville–Preston–Chezzetcook, falls squarely into. One of the reasons she decided to run was that she got sick of seeing politicians who didn’t represent her – not her age, gender, or overall life experience, she says.

Chisholm is trying to take the riding from Liberal incumbent Darrel Samson, who is 62. She has to contend with the Conservatives as well. The party, now represented by Angela Conrad, got nearly as many votes as the NDP did in the riding in the last election.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people locally, and seen how badly they need and want change at the federal level. And I feel like, historically, most of our community members are NDP at heart,” Chisholm says.

Chisholm says the key for the NDP to flip some of the ridings that are currently Liberal will be focusing on issues and relationships.

“With myself being Mi’kmaw and our Indigenous people across the country, we know that we put our trust in Trudeau six years ago, and he let us down immensely. And it’s been like a continuous process of pain for a lot of our communities,” she says, citing examples like the government not supporting Indigenous fishers and breaking its promise to eliminate drinking water advisories in First Nations communities by March of this year.

“And so, that hope of rebuilding relationships and having someone that will start from the bottom and work through things with us, that’s crucial.”

One strategy the NDP has used to reach the millennial and Gen Z demographic is social media – leader Jagmeet Singh joined the video platform TikTok in the last election and has grown a following there since. Instagram and especially Facebook are also an important part of Chisholm’s campaign. As she canvasses, she points people to her social media accounts.

She says social media allows her to leave a lasting impression on people in the riding.

“Now they can see me a little bit more, get to know me a little bit better than they would if they just met me on their doorstep once,” Chisholm explains.

In the Halifax area, like the rest of Nova Scotia, the start of the federal campaign overlapped with the provincial election that saw the Progressive Conservatives win a surprise majority on Aug. 17. Some federal candidates helped canvass for their provincial counterparts and then had to jump into their own campaign, volunteers who worked the provincial election are tired, and some voters at the door are suffering from election fatigue.

Jonathan Roberts, an associate professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and NDP candidate for Halifax West, says the NDP gained a “lot of momentum from the provincial campaign on housing. People realized that the Liberal government here, the provincial government, just wasn’t going to do anything about it.”

© Ted Pritchard/Reuters

 NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is greeted by candidate Lisa Roberts before meeting with supporters during a campaign stop in Halifax, September 4, 2021.

Like Chisholm, Roberts is in a three-way race. In 2019, the NDP and Conservative candidates got nearly the same amount of votes, both ringing in at 19 per cent.

Liberal Geoff Regan, who held the seat for the previous two decades (and another four-year stint in the 90s), won by a large margin last time, but he’s not running for re-election. Instead, Roberts is facing off with Liberal candidate Lena Metlege Diab and Conservative Eleanor Humphries.

As Roberts door-knocks in the neighbourhood of Fairview – where he says increasingly unaffordable housing is the biggest issue – he notes the neighbourhood is full of houses the government built for soldiers returning from the Second World War. It’s an example from the past as Canada faces an ongoing housing crisis, he says, explaining the NDP plan is to spur the building of the 500,000 affordable homes they’ve promised through tax policy and incentives.

Ultimately, one key factor is whether the NDP is able to take some of its old ridings back, or whether they stay Liberal, is what the voters think about the Liberal record.

The key for the NDP to get through to voters is targeting the grassroots and in authenticity, Roberts says.

“When we say we’re going to do this and we’re going to do that, we actually mean we’re going to do it. And of course we’ve never been in power, so no one can say we never did it,” he says. “Whereas, the other parties have been in power, and they say they’re gonna do it, and they don’t.

“The Liberals, they’ve broken so many promises… it’s just not possible for them to have the credibility.”

Fillmore, on the other hand, predicts that in the later stages of the campaign, people will think back on the Liberal record favourably.

“People will have a chance, when they get back from vacation and back from the cottage and put their heads back in the game … to reflect on the way in which the pandemic has been managed by the federal government, the vaccine rollout, the supports for individuals and businesses and organizations.”

He hopes that record will lead them to conclude — as the woman in Cowie Hill did — that “now’s not the right time to make a change.”

AMERICAN HEALTHCARE CRISIS

Ransomware groups continue assault on healthcare orgs as COVID-19 infections increase

Ransomware groups have shown no signs of slowing down their assault on hospitals, seemingly ramping up attacks on healthcare institutions as dozens of countries deal with a new wave of COVID-19 infections thanks to the potent Delta variant.

© Image: Getty
Ambulances outside a hospital in Ireland.

Jonathan Greig 

ZDNet 

One of the newer ransomware groups, Vice Society, debuted in June and made a name for themselves by attacking multiple hospitals and leaking patient info. Cybersecurity researchers at Cisco Talos said Vice Society is known to be "quick to exploit new security vulnerabilities to help ransomware attacks" and frequently exploits Windows PrintNightmare vulnerabilities during attacks.

 

"As with other threat actors operating in the big-game hunting space, Vice Society operates a data leak site, which they use to publish data exfiltrated from victims who do not choose to pay their extortion demands," Cisco Talos explained last month.

Cybersecurity firm Dark Owl added that Vice Society is "assessed to be a possible spin-off of the Hello Kitty ransomware variant based on similarities in the techniques used for Linux system encryption." According to Black Fog, they were implicated in a ransomware attack on the Swiss city of Rolle in August. 

© Provided by ZDNet The Vice Society leak site. Cisco Talos

Multiple hospitals -- Eskenazi Health, Waikato DHB and Centre Hospitalier D'Arles -- have been featured on the criminal group's leak site. The group made waves this week by posting the data of Barlow Respiratory Hospital in California.

The hospital was attacked on August 27 but managed to avoid the worst, noting in a statement that "no patients were at risk of harm" and "hospital operations continued without interruption."

Barlow Respiratory Hospital told ZDNet that law enforcement was immediately notified once the hospital noticed the ransomware impacting some of its IT systems.

"Though we have taken extensive efforts to protect the privacy of our information, we learned that some data was removed from certain backup systems without authorization and has been published to a website where criminals post stolen data, also known as the 'dark web.' Our investigation into the incident and the data that was involved is ongoing," the hospital said in a statement.

"We will continue to work with law enforcement to assist in their investigation, and we are working diligently, with the assistance of a cybersecurity firm, to assess what information may have been involved in the incident. If necessary, we will notify the individuals whose information may have been involved, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, in due course."

The attack on Barlow caused considerable outrage online considering the hospital's importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. But dozens of hospitals continue to come forward to say they have been hit with ransomware attacks.

Vice Society is far from the only ransomware group targeting hospitals and healthcare institutions.

The FBI released an alert about the Hive ransomware two weeks ago after the group took down a hospital system in Ohio and West Virginia last month, noting that they typically corrupt backups as well.

Hive has so far attacked at least 28 organizations, including Memorial Health System, which was hit with a ransomware attack on August 15.

Ransomware groups are also increasingly targeting hospitals because of the sensitive information they carry, including social security numbers and other personal data. Multiple hospitals in recent months have had to send letters out to patients admitting that sensitive data was accessed during attacks.

Simon Jelley, general manager at Veritas Technologies, called targeting healthcare organizations "particularly despicable."

"These criminals are literally putting people's lives in danger to turn a profit. The elderly, children and any others who require medical attention likely will not be able to get it as quickly and efficiently as they may need. At the same time, the hackers hold hospital systems and data prisoner," Jelley said.

"Not to mention that healthcare facilities are already struggling to keep up as COVID-19 cases surge once again in many places across the country. Preventing ransomware attacks is a noble effort, but as illustrated by the Memorial Health System attack and so many others like it in recent months, preparation for dealing with the aftermath of a successful attack is more important than ever."

Overwhelmed Kentucky hospitals fear the worst as federal Covid-19 assistance set to leave Frida

By Amir Vera and Lauren Clabby Moore, CNN 

© CNN St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Kentucky.

A Covid-19 surge in Kentucky has led to so many patients at St. Claire Regional Medical Center that the workers are unsure how they'll handle the growing numbers when a medical team sent by the federal government leaves Friday.

The Morehead hospital, about 65 miles east of Lexington, is one of the hardest-hit due to the influx of Covid-19 patients. It's the largest health care facility serving 11 counties in rural northeastern Kentucky and -- as of last week -- was at 130% above capacity, according to St. Claire Health Care CEO Donald Lloyd.

"The only reason we are holding this lifeboat together is I have a federal disaster medical assistance team here, 14 people who have just been heroes to us. And, unfortunately, their deployment is over on Friday," Dr. William Melah, the chief medical officer for St. Claire Health Care, told CNN's Kate Bolduan on Monday. "I'm going to lose 14 health care professionals, and I literally have no idea what we're going to do on Friday."

Gov. Andy Beshear said during a Covid-19 briefing Monday that hospitals in Kentucky are "struggling more today than at any other point during the pandemic." Because of this, Beshear said about 400 National Guard troops will be deployed across 25 hospitals in the state.

"This is, I think, the largest deployment for a health care crisis in our commonwealth's history," Beshear said. "Every hospital that they go to not only talk about how it's a morale boost, but it truly helps in the operation and it allows them to provide more care to more patients."

An "army of nursing students" is also being sent all over the state, the governor said.

At St. Claire, there are currently five EMS teams and one medical team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Beshear said.

"We will continue look for any other way we can help," Beshear said.

While the hospital is holding on by a thread, Melah assured the community St. Claire would not turn anyone away.

"We're gonna have to... (I) don't know what we're going to do," he said. "I really don't feel like answering that question right now because it is so disturbing."

Last week, the situation at St. Claire was so bad that some non-Covid patients were waiting 24 hours for care or until someone got better or died, Melah said.

As of Monday afternoon, Kentucky had more than 620,000 Covid-19 cases and more than 8,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Roughly 50% of the state's population is vaccinated.

Melah also emphasized that medical workers are not angry at patients, but rather those who have manipulated them into thinking the vaccines aren't safe or that they're more dangerous than being infected with Covid-19.

"They hear that from experts, they hear from politicians and from social media. And we're not here to be angry with them," Melah said. "There's actually one enemy and only one thing to be angry about and that is coronavirus. That's the real enemy. And we're at war with coronavirus."

Huge Iron Age gold hoard found by rookie detectorist in Denmark

A huge hoard of Iron Age gold artifacts has been uncovered by an amateur metal detectorist in Denmark

.

© Conservation Center Vejle The gold weighed almost 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) in total.

Jack Guy, CNN 4 hrs ago

The "enormous" find consists of almost one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold buried 1,500 years ago, according to a press release from the Vejlemuseerne museum, which will exhibit the hoard.

Described by the museum as "one of the largest, richest and most beautiful gold treasures in Danish history so far," the hoard was discovered in Vindelev, near the central Danish town of Jelling, by a rookie detectorist called Ole Ginnerup Schytz.

Mads Ravn, head of research at Vejlemuseerne, told CNN that he almost fell off his chair when Schytz sent him a photo of an object, asking him if it was anything significant.

Schytz had only recently acquired his metal detector and been given permission to use it on his friend's land. Within a few hours of starting, he had uncovered the hoard.

"I told him he might as well just sell the detector now because he already peaked," said Ravn, adding: "It doesn't get better."

Archaeologists from the Vejlemuseerne then excavated the site along with a team from the National Museum, uncovering a treasure trove including "huge medallions the size of saucers," according to the Vejlemuseerne.

The artifacts were buried in a longhouse by an Iron Age chieftain, revealing that Vindelev was a center of power at the time, the museum added.

Whoever buried the hoard would have been immensely wealthy and powerful, said Ravn, adding that the hoard contains medallions that are thicker than normal.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said.

In the sixth century the chieftain attracted skilled artisans to the area, and later buried his large gold hoard. It is not clear exactly why he buried it, but Ravn believes it was buried as an offering to the gods.

Some experts have suggested the gold was buried to save it during a time of war, but Ravn said the combination of objects suggests it was more likely to have been an offering.

The hoard contains saucer-sized decorated medallions called bracteates, as well as Roman coins that had been fashioned into jewelry.

One of the bracteates is decorated with a male head and a number of runes, as well as a horse and a bird. A runic inscription on the horse reads "the high one," according to preliminary research, which could refer to the chieftain or the god Odin.

At the time, Norse mythology was developing and would have been in competition with more ancient religions, said Ravn, around 300 years before the ancient sagas were written down.

In addition, one heavy Roman gold coin dates from the rule of Constantine the Great (324-337 AD), and reveals that Europe was already well connected during the Iron Age.

The Roman coins show how mobile people were at the time, said Ravn, with people from northern Europe moving south to plunder or serving as mercenaries in Roman armies before bringing the coins back home.

"There weren't these borders," said Ravn, "so people were moving around."

The period also saw a climate catastrophe caused by the ash cloud from a large volcanic eruption in Iceland in 536 AD, which led to years of famine.

"It was a very chaotic period in some ways," Ravn said.

Some of the largest gold hoards in Scandinavia were buried around this time, and some objects found on the island of Hjarno, central Denmark, have similarities to those in this latest hoard.

This suggests there might have been an alliance between the rulers of the two areas, and the beginnings of Denmark as a united kingdom, Ravn said.

The hoard will go on display at the Vejlemuseerne in February 2022 as part of a large Viking exhibition.

"It's kind of a pre-chapter to the Viking age," said Ravn. "We already have the echo of the early Viking age coming along in that time."





4 SLIDES © Conservation Center Vejle
The artifacts will go on display from February 2022.

‘Weird, patronizing behavior’: AOC lets rip at Manchin’s ‘young lady’ remark

Lauren Gambino in Washington 

The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has fired back at the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin for referring to her as “the young lady”, in the latest escalation in a bitter intra-party spat over the size and scale of Democrats’ social spending bill.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Related: Joe Manchin insists he ‘can’t vote for’ $3.5tn spending bill

Joe Biden’s economic agenda depends on Democrats’ ability to overcome such internal divisions and enact what would be the largest expansion of the social safety net in generations.

Manchin is among the chief obstacles to passing the mooted $3.5tn package. He has said he would not support legislation with such a high price tag.

His opposition has placed the bill in peril in the Senate, where it already faces an uphill battle in a chamber split 50-50, while drawing the ire of progressives, who see the $3.5tn plan as a compromise on their ambitions to reshape the US economy.

In a Sunday appearance on CNN, Manchin ripped progressives for threatening to sink a bipartisan infrastructure bill if he refuses to support the spending package. Singling out Ocasio-Cortez, Manchin responded to her claim that he meets weekly with oil lobbyists.

“I keep my door open for everybody,” he said. “It’s totally false. And those types of superlatives, it’s just awful. Continue to divide, divide, divide.

“I don’t know that young lady that well. I really don’t. She’s just speculating and saying things.”

On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez suggested Manchin was attempting to dismiss a fellow member of Congress as a “young lady” because he was beginning to feel the pressure.

“In Washington, I usually know my questions of power are getting somewhere when the powerful stop referring to me as ‘Congresswoman’ and start referring to me as ‘young lady’ instead,” the 31-year-old wrote.

“Imagine if every time someone referred to someone as ‘young lady’ they were responded to by being addressed with their age and gender? They’d be pretty upset if one responded with ‘the old man’, right? Why this kind of weird, patronizing behavior is so accepted is beyond me!”

© Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Imagine if [they were'] addressed with their age and gender? They’d be pretty upset if one responded with “the old man”, right?’

The testy exchange underscores the challenge facing Democrats as they attempt to craft a bill that satisfies competing interests among their caucus on healthcare, climate change, education and immigration. How Democrats plan to pay for the package also remains contested and unclear.

Last week, Manchin called on Congress to “pause” a lightning-fast drafting process for the spending package. The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, rejected the call, insisting Democrats were moving “full speed ahead”, though he did not rule out shrinking the cost of the plan.

The bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in August includes funding for so-called “hard” infrastructure projects like roads and bridges, broadband and mass transit.

Progressives have threatened to derail passage of that $1.2tn plan if Senate Democrats fail to deliver a concurrent spending package that delivers on liberal priorities, including combating climate change, expanding healthcare and medical leave, subsidizing childcare and reforming the immigration system.

The House, where Democrats hold a narrow majority, is expected to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by 27 September. Key committees are racing to finish writing the reconciliation package. Senate Democrats would need support from all 50 members of their caucus to approve it via budget reconciliation, with Vice-President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

CNN'S Dana Bash asked Joe Manchin 7 times how much the budget bill should cost. He never answered.

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large 4 hrs ago

Here's what Joe Manchin knows: There's no way, no how, that he is voting for the proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill being pushed by Senate Democrats

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 05: Sen. John Cornyn (R) (R-TX) talks with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) while walking to the U.S. Senate chamber for a vote March 05, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Senate continues to debate the latest COVID-19 relief bill. 

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Here's what Joe Manchin appears to have no clue about: What size spending bill he would vote for.

This exchange, which is long but worth it, between CNN's Dana Bash and the West Virginia Democratic Senator on Sunday is illustrative of both of those points:

Bash: Do you have a specific number in mind?

Manchin: Here's a number you should be getting to. First of all, I have agreed to get onto the reconciliation, because that's the time for us to make financial adjustments and changes. I thought the 2017 tax code and tax law, the way it was changed, was barely -- very, very unfair. And it was weighted to the heavy -- to the wealthy.

Bash: So what's the number?

Manchin: And bottom line is, what's -- the number would be what's going to be competitive in our tax code.

I believe the corporate rate should be at 25, not 21.

Bash: But what's the overall number for the budget bill?

Manchin: You know, I think that you're going to have to look at it and find out what you're able to do through a reasonable, responsible way.

Bash: So, then how do you know that it's not 3.5?

Manchin: And if that's going to be at 1.5, if it's going to be 1, 1.5 -- we don't know where it's going to be.

Bash: So, you think, ballpark, 1, 1.5?

Manchin: It's not going to be at 3.5, I can assure you.

But, with that, whatever it is, once you have a competitive tax code that you can compete globally, and then you should look at what the need is. What's the urgency and the need that we have?

Bash: And I'm -- again, I want to get to that, but just because this is -- this is the thing that people consume. Do you have a ceiling?

Manchin: I -- my ceiling is this, the need of the American people, and for us to basically take in consideration inflation. No one's concerning about the debt. Our debt as of Friday was 28.7 trillion? And we're not even talking about that. No one is talking about that.

Bash: So, 1 -- you just said 1.5. It sounds like $1.5 trillion is your number?

Manchin: I'm just saying that, basically -- well, I have looked at numbers. If we have a competitive tax code from a noncompetitive, doesn't help the working person that was done in 2017, that's in the 1, 1.5 range, OK? If that's where it is, shouldn't you be looking at, what does it take now to meet the urgent needs that we have that we haven't already met?

Soooo......

If you weren't counting, Dana asked Manchin SEVEN times what the number would be that he could vote for. And seven times Manchin hedged. Even when she pushed on a number he had thrown out -- $1.5 trillion -- he wouldn't commit to that!

Manchin's lack of clarity is no small matter. With Democrats holding only 50 Senate seats, they need every single member of their party -- plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris -- to pass this spending bill, which President Joe Biden had made clear is a major priority for his administration.

Without Manchin's vote -- and it's clear that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn't have it right now -- there is no reconciliation package, no matter how big (or small). Manchin is the linchpin in all of this -- and he knows it.

What's difficult -- from Schumer's perspective -- is that Manchin seems to not know what he DOES want. What is the number -- or around the number -- that would turn Manchin's "no" vote into a "yes"? Is it $1.5 trillion? Less? More?

To best understand Manchin's current stance -- and why it is utterly maddening for Senate leaders as well as the more liberal House Democratic caucus -- take it out of the political context. Think about it like this: You and your significant other decide you want to go out to dinner. You suggest a few places and he or she says no to each. You name a few more, and he or she continues to reject them. Exasperated, you ask "Well, where do YOU want to eat?" and get this response: "I don't know."

Joe Manchin is the undecided diner in this scenario. Except we aren't talking about where to get dinner. We're talking about trillions in government spending that would fundamentally reshape the way government is involved in the lives of individuals for years to come.

Norway’s left-wing opposition wins election in a landslide

Labour expected to form coalition with other left-leaning parties as it seeks to reduce inequality and wean the economy off oil.

Jubilation for Norway's Labour Party and leader Jonas Gahr Store (second right) after exit polls showed victory in the election. 

[Javad Parsa/ NTB via AFP]
14 Sep 2021

Norway’s left-wing opposition headed by Labour Party leader Jonas Gahr Store has had a landslide win in a general election after a campaign dominated by the future of the country’s oil industry.

Store unseated a centre-right coalition on Monday headed by Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, which had been in power since 2013.

“We waited, we hoped, and we have worked so hard, and now we can finally say it: We did it!,” Store, who is likely to be the next prime minister, told cheering supporters after Solberg conceded defeat.

With 97.5 percent of the votes counted, Labour and four other centre-left parties could swing to a combined majority of 100 seats, up from 81 currently, the Directorate of Elections projected.

A minimum of 85 seats is required to win a majority in the 169-seat parliament.

“Norway has sent a clear signal: the election shows that the Norwegian people want a fairer society,” said the 61-year-old millionaire who campaigned against social inequalities.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, conceded defeat on Monday night after eight years in power [Heiko Junge/NTB via Reuters]

Norway’s position as western Europe’s biggest oil and gas producer was at the heart of the election campaign after the August report on climate from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) thrust the issue to the top of the agenda. Store had called for a gradual transition away from the oil economy, while the Greens had called for an immediate end to oil exploration. The Conservatives had also called for a transition away from the fossil fuels that have made Norway wealthy.

“I want to congratulate Jonas Gahr Store, who now seems to have a clear majority for a change of government,” 60-year-old Solberg said in her concession speech.

To form a viable cabinet, Stoere might need to persuade potential centre-left partners to compromise on policies ranging from oil and private ownership to Norway’s relations with the European Union.

“We, as the biggest party, will make sure that Norway will get a new government and a new course,” Store said in a speech to party members.

“In the coming days, I will invite the leaders of all parties who want a change,” he said, adding he would start with the Centre Party and Socialist Left.

The oil sector accounts for 14 percent of Norway’s gross domestic product, as well as 40 percent of its exports and employs 160,000 people directly.

It has also helped the country of 5.4 million people amass the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, today worth close to 12 trillion kroner ($1.4 trillion).


A former minister in the governments of Jens Stoltenberg between 2005 and 2013, Store is now expected to begin negotiations with the Centre, which primarily defends the interests of its rural base, and the Socialist Left, which is a strong advocate for environmental issues.

Store has also pledged to address inequality by cutting taxes for low and middle-income families and increasing rates for the rich

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Norway's center-left heads to victory in general elections

Jan M. Olsen, The Associated Press
Published Monday, September 13, 2021 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway's elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country's oil and gas exploration industry.

With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party and its two allies - the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party - would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. One seat was still unsure.

As Norway's largest party, Labor will try to form a coalition government and its chief, 61-year-old Jonas Gahr Stoere, is poised to become Norway's next leader. The Scandinavian country is not a member of the European Union.

\

“We will now give Norway a new government and a new course,” Gahr Stoere said on a election night before cheering party members who chanted “Stoere” and clapped. He added that he will in the coming days invite the parties “that want a new change” for talks.

Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.

In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives' Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway's longest-serving leader. Gahr Stoere said Monday that he also wanted to thank Solberg for having been “a good prime minister.”

“We knew we needed a miracle --the Conservatives' work session is over,” said Solberg. “I congratulate Jonas Gahr Stoere with what looks like a clear majority.”

Her Conservatives suffered a setback, losing 4.7 percentage points which was dubbed by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as “the election's biggest loser.” Its former coalition partner, the Progress Party lost 3.4 percentage points, according to a preliminary counting of more than 93% of the votes by Norway's election commission.

The 60-year-old Solberg has been ahead of a minority government since 2020 -- before then it was coalitions with, among others, the populist Progress Party. Due to her long tenure, as well as her commitment to economic liberalism, she became known at home as “Iron Erna” -- inspired by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” for her firm style.

Solberg was hoping to become the first prime minister to win a third consecutive four-year term. During her eight-year tenure, she has expanded oil exploration, cut taxes and sought to make public administration more efficient.

Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left won't offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy.

The Center Party made the largest gains in the election by grabbing nearly 14% of the votes - a 3.6 percentage point hike - with its leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, a farmer-turned-politician, noting with a large smile that it had become the third largest group in Stortinget after Labor and the Conservatives.

The campaign focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the world's wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The country's biggest industry is responsible for over 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce.

On the other hand, Norwegians are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric.

Most of Norway's oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the country's untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government.

Gahr Stoere is a former civil servant who was elected to the Stortinget in 2009. He also owns a large part of his family's company, and most the fortune there comes from the sale in 1977 of a Norwegian company that made cast iron stoves and fireplaces.

Stoere also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO's secretary general.

Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norway's election commission. Turnout was 76.3%, down from more than 78% in this nation of 5.3 million voted.

Norway appears set to replace Conservative government amid oil debate, preliminary results show

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN 

Norway appears set to put an end to the Conservative-led coalition government's eight years of rule, preliminary results from the country's parliamentary election showed on Monday — a shift that environmental advocates have long awaited as they push to end the country's dependence on its lucrative oil industry

.

© ALI ZARE/NTB/AFP via Getty Images

 A billboard featuring an election poster of Norway's Prime Minister and leader of the conservative Hoyre party, Erna Solberg, on September 8, 2021.

The current government, headed by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway's longest-ever serving PM, has refused to put an end date on fossil fuel production, planning for its continuation beyond 2050.

The election campaign period was heavily focused on climate and the country's fossil fuel production, following the release of a damming UN climate science report and a heatwave that scorched much of the country during the summer.

The initial results are not final, but in Norway, they give a fairly reliable picture of real results.

Projections by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK TV based on partial results showed that the Labor Party was on track to win some 25% of the vote, which translates to roughly 48 seats in the 169-seat parliament, suggesting a center-left alliance is likely to replace the Conservative-led coalition.

The Labor Party, led by former foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre, calls for a gradual transition from fossil fuels. However, it will likely need the support of the Green Party, or another such small, climate-friendly outfit, which have been campaigning for an phase-out of the country's huge oil and gas industries.

"We have three green parties in Norway -- the Socialist Party, the Liberal Party and the Green Party," said Lars-Henrik Paarup Michelsen, the director of the Norwegian Climate Foundation..

"The polls indicate that our next government will be led by the Labour party. However, Labour will need the votes of at least one green party in order to get a majority in Parliament.

"Everyone' expects that climate policy will be tightened after the election," he added.

Both the Socialists and the Green Party posted gains in the election, according to the preliminary results. The Greens were poised to secure seven seats in the parliament, a major gain from 2017 when it had just one. The Socialists appeared to be on track to get 13 seats, two more then during the last election

"If this is close to the final result, it's a sharp increase for the Greens, it's a historic result for them and it will give them much bigger platform," said Fay Farstad, a senior researcher at CICERO, a Norwegian institute for interdisciplinary climate research.

However, Farstad added that the result is more nuanced, given the gains posted by the Center Party. "They support Norway's climate goals and agreements, but where they differ is on the issue on CO2 tax increases, they ran on the platform of rejecting it," she added.

Norway is Europe's largest oil producer and the world's third-biggest natural gas exporter. Even with political will, phasing out fossil fuels is unlikely to be quick.

Norwegians enjoy a high quality of life, largely because of its $1.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund -- the biggest in the world -- which invests revenues from the oil industry. Its website displays a real-time value of the fund, so Norwegians can marvel at their seemingly ever-growing riches.

But as the world becomes more conscious of the climate crisis and transitions to renewable sources of energy, there has been a concerted push in the country against the continued exploration of fossil fuels.

"There have been many debates over the course of the last year and a half or two years, but when the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report came in August, just as the campaign was picking up steam, it really did put climate change at the center of attention," Ole Jacob Sending, director of research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs think tank, told CNN.

While climate change itself is not up for a debate in Norway -- all of the main political parties acknowledge climate change is real and already happening -- the question of how to handle it is.

"Climate is now one of the main fault lines in Norwegian politics ... there are disagreements on what are the best policies and how urgent is it that we take action," Sending said.

"It's less of an elephant in the room now ... there's an increased recognition that Norway is having a challenge."

Norway's approach to the climate crisis has been paradoxical for some time. It has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030, way ahead of many other rich countries. The US, UK and the EU are all hoping to achieve net zero by mid-century. The country is also offering generous subsidies for electric cars and investing heavily into renewable energy sources.

But the oil and gas sector remains crucial for the Norwegian economy, employing 200,000 people -- between 6% and 7% of its workforce -- and accounting for 14% of GDP and 41% of exports.

While scientists say emissions need to be halved over this decade, largely by phasing out fossil fuels, Norway has not set a date to even end the exploration of oil and gas.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said earlier this year that it expected oil production to keep rising in the next few years, from 1.7 million barrels a day in 2020 to just over 2 million a day in 2025

Norway's center-left gains after vote; climate is key issue

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The center-left bloc in Norway appears to have won Monday’s general election, according to the first official projection, which shows the ruling Conservatives would lose power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country’s oil and gas exploration industry.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 52% of the vote, the Labor Party and its two allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — appear to have won power. The left-leaning side in the Norwegian parliament would get a total of 101 seats while the current government would get 67 of the Stortinget assembly's 169 seats, according to the Norwegian election commission. A majority is 85 seats.

As Norway’s largest party, Labor will try to form a coalition government and its chief, 61-year-old Jonas Gahr Stoere, is poised to become Norway’s next leader. The Scandinavian country is not member of the European Union.

Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.

“We will take our time to talk to the other parties, and we respect that this has not been decided until it is decided,” Gahr Stoere, told his party before the polling stations closed Monday. In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives' Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway’s longest-serving leader.

Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left won’t offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy.

The campaign focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the world's wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The country’s biggest industry is responsible for over 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce.

On the other hand, Norwegians are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric.

Most of Norway's oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the country's untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government.

Gahr Stoere is a former civil servant who was elected to the Stortinget in 2009. He also owns a large part of his family’s company, and most the fortune there comes from the sale in 1977 of a Norwegian company that made cast iron stoves and fireplaces.

Stoere also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO's secretary general.

Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norway’s election commission.

___

Follow all AP stories on climate change at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate.

Jan M. Olsen, The Associated Press

Ford hires Lowe's executive to lead automaker's data and software transformation

Michael Wayland

Mike Amend, who was most recently president of online for Lowe's, will oversee Ford's data, software and technology, effective immediately.

Those areas are key to CEO Jim Farley's Ford+ turnaround plan that's designed to reposition the automaker to generate more recurring revenue through software services.

Ford's appointment of Amend comes less than a week after the company announced Apple executive Doug Field as the automaker's chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer.

© Provided by CNBC Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley walks to speak at a news conference at the Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, September 17, 2020.

DETROIT — Ford Motor has hired an online retail sales veteran as its new chief digital and information officer — marking the second high-profile appointment to CEO Jim Farley's executive team in the past week.

The automaker said Monday that Mike Amend, who was most recently president of online for Lowe's, will oversee Ford's data, software and technology, effective immediately. Those are key areas to Farley's Ford+ turnaround plan that's designed to reposition the automaker to generate more recurring revenue through software services.

"Mike adds dimension to our team as we use technology and software to transform our company and transportation from the inside-out," Farley said in a statement. "Ford has always been an innovator in vehicles; now we're taking our digital capabilities to new levels to further differentiate ourselves with customers and from competitors."

At Lowe's, Amend assisted in turning around the retailer's online strategy. The company's online sales more than doubled in 2020 compared with the year prior. The overhaul made it better positioned to capture dollars during the home improvement boom. It also added a lot of new options, such as curbside pickup and in-store lockers where customers could retrieve online purchases.

Before Lowe's, the 43-year-old held similar positions with J.C. Penney and Home Depot, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also previously worked at Dell Technologies and Sprint.

Ford said Amend's team will work closely with those led by Hau Thai-Tang, the company's chief product platform and operations officer, and Doug Field, who joined Ford last week from Apple as chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer.

Amend and Field are major hires for Ford, which is viewed by many investors as being behind crosstown rival General Motors when it comes to emerging technologies such as electric and automotive vehicles. Both are focuses under Ford's turnaround plan.

–CNBC's Melissa Repko contributed to this report.