Council is accused of acting like 'communist China' after librarian of 30 years is suspended for criticising a Beijing firm's investment in the city

Maureen O'Bern, 58, a librarian form Wigan, was fired after 'criticising council'

Ms O'Bern asked for Chinese firm's investment in city's mall to be 'addressed'

She was fired by Wigan council for 'bringing council's reputation into disrepute'

A council has been accused of 'acting like communist China' for suspending a loyal librarian of 34 years.

Maureen O'Bern, 58, says she has been punished by Wigan council, Greater Manchester, after raising concerns about the £130million redevelopment of The Galleries shopping centre.

In social media posts, Ms O'Bern, who worked at Leigh Library, south east of Wigan, criticised the involvement of Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI), a state-owned Chinese firm.

The council hopes to build a new 150-room hotel, 464 homes and a multimedia centre with a cinema, ten-lane bowling alley and indoor mini golf as part of the Galleries 25 project, a joint venture partnership between developers Cityheart and BCEGI.

However, Ms O'Bern says she has serious concerns about UK-based BCEGI due to China's human rights record, in particular its crackdowns on protests in Hong Kong and the persecution of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province.

She said: 'I'm worried about Chinese investment in our infrastructure. I don't think they should be buying up our towns.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9657335/Wigan-Council-accused-acting-like-communist-China-librarian-30-years-suspended.html

Two trains collide in southern Pakistan, killing 25

Two express trains collided in Multan in southern Pakistan early Monday and at least 25 passengers were killed, police and rescue officials said.

The Millat Express derailed and the Sir Syed Express train hit it soon afterward, said Usman Abdullah, a police officer in Ghotki district in Sindh province, where the collision occurred.

He said villagers, rescuers, and police were transporting the dead and injured passengers to nearby hospitals.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the derailment and the subsequent collision.

Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where successive governments have paid little attention to improving the poorly maintained signal system and aging tracks.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/multan-two-trains-collide-in-southern-pakistan-killing-25/876ddace-5fee-4041-b421-a72b4fbefe16

>>13847417

Heads to the CIA

Pension bailout agency flagged for contract bribery, fraud and payments to dead Americans

Inspector general also reported several cases of theft inside PBGC, which got its first ever infusion of tax dollars earlier this year.

This week’s Golden Horseshoe award goes to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the nation's pension bailout agency that is still reeling from revelations its chief of contracting engaged in a bribery scheme that steered $4.8 million in fraudulent business to a vendor in return for more than $1 million in personal benefits.

The bribery scheme involving the now convicted director of PBGC's Procurement Department was possible because the agency suffered from several vulnerabilities, including reduced competition among vendors, missing legal reviews and sole-source contracts that evaded bidding designed to get taxpayers the best bargain, the PBGC's inspector general reported.

"His actions were enabled by internal control weaknesses; specifically, inadequate oversight of PD procurements and a lack of a control mechanism to ensure that PD sent all requisite contract actions for legal review," the inspector general reported. "Although PBGC began requiring that more contract actions receive legal review after the PD Director resigned in February 2020, it does not have a mechanism to ensure PD complies with this requirement."

The internal watchdog said it also found "internal control deficiencies allowed PD to avoid competition requirements when awarding five other contracts, three of which were for PD support. Four of the contracts were awarded on a sole-source basis, including three using small business set-aside programs."

The weaknesses are particularly concerning because PBGC, which normal funds itself through insurance payments from employer pension plans, just received its first ever infusion of tax dollars to replenish coffers that were on track to be insolvent by 2026, the IG noted.

President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in March that provides more than $86 billion in Special Financial Assistance to bail out financially troubled plans in PBGC's Multi-employer Program

"The Multiemployer Special Financial Assistance that PBGC will receive from the Department of the Treasury will be the first time in the history of the PBGC that the Corporation will receive taxpayer funds," the IG noted. "Our office is committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and we will continue to aggressively protect the integrity of the Multi-employer Program.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/waste-fraud-and-abuse/pension-bailout-agency-flagged-contract-bribery-fraud-and

>>13847479

then she realized and turned the plane around

The DARPA-taped Letters

Why have several researchers with close ties to the CCP been undermining the dissemination of peer reviewed research which looks at a lab origin of the COVID-19 Pandemic and gain-of-function research?

Few things are as nerve-racking as your first day at a brand-new school in a brand-new state, that’s on the other side of the country.

And so I was beyond relieved when the teacher of my second grade class Mrs. Mongelluzzo – easy to spell with the Mickey Mouse Club cadence – told everyone at the end of a rough first day that to help break the ice, everyone should try and bring a joke back to class the next day as their only homework. Knowing my dad seemed to at least think he was pretty hilarious, I waddled home so fast that I almost started rolling at one point, eager to call my dad at work to get the joke to help me fit in with a class of eight and nine year-olds the next day.

I’m not sure I’ve ever raised my hand faster in my life that next day, when Mrs. Mongelluzzo asked if anyone had remembered their homework and returned with a joke. Brand news class, all eyes on me, time to show I can fit in:

“Alright, so… how do you tell a male chromosome, from a female chromosome?

(At this point I assumed the confused looks meant my classmates were deeply pondering this profound genomic kaon.)

“Well… of course – YOU JUST PULL DOWN ITS GENES!!”

And so I learned my first hard lesson in the school of having a Microbiology PhD father trying to help you navigate through novel social situations. Or any social situations. But I digress.

However the good news was that although my dad’s job might not have made fitting in among my peers any easier, he more than made up for it during my first Take-Your-Kid-to-Work Day a few weeks later. Riding the Red Line from the Shady Grove Metro decades later while living in a halfway house as an ex-con and felon for the rest of my life, GPS anklet banging around underneath my extra-long khakis, I had a hard time imagining myself back then, staring out the window, oblivious to so much of the world that prison would later reveal to me.

But for eight-year-old me, the metro was the first part of the most incredible adventure of my life up to that point.

More

https://harvard2thebighouse.substack.com/p/the-darpa-taped-letters

Scott Morrison urges Victoria to lift restrictions

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he is “hopeful” the restrictions in Victoria will be lifted as soon as possible.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Morrison said the challenge currently facing Victoria is one which “will be overcome”.

“Kids have lost enough time out of school over the last 18 months, and it’s very important we get those kids back to school,” he said.

“I would be urging that we be moving towards lifting those restrictions as soon as possible.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6257704316001