Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Anicia Antoine. This edition's top stories. Saint Lucians have received more than $36 million from the NIC's Economic Relief Programme. Saint Lucia is rated number one in the Caribbean for the national COVID-19 response. And the Ministry of Education presses on with replacing the common entrance examination. Saint Lucians are continuing to benefit from the Economic Relief Programme, administered by the National Insurance Corporation NIC. The program provides financial support to the thousands of NIC contributors who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the NIC has paid out $36.2 million to 15,805 contributors. The Economic Relief Programme provides payment of a monthly sum equivalent to 50% of the insurable earnings of an affected insured person subject to a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $1,500. To date, the average monthly payout is $908. Initially making payouts for April, May and June 2020, the NIC extended the Economic Relief Programme for three more months, considering the ongoing adverse impact of COVID-19 on the business sector, including the hotel sector, which employs a significant number of its contributors. The National Insurance Corporation has issued a call to employers to update their portal information, given that hundreds of Saint Lucians are now returning to work following the reopening of economic activity. Head of Group Internal Audit at the NIC, Suwan Chalripane explains. The process starts by the employer informing NIC that those individuals that they would have uploaded for have since returned to work or their lay-off period has ended.  In cases where the period straddles, so for example they got their return to work mid-month, so mid-August, when they just returned to work mid-August, there would be process up to August pending information from the employer as to how much they would have been earning for the month of August and that would be seen as the financial benefit that they would have gotten and would be treated as normal up to August. September they would not be entitled to an economic relief because they would return to full employment. McNaughton McLean, Communications Manager at the NIC, says the cooperation remains committed to see the economic relief program through to its scheduled end on 30 September 2020, however expects the number of beneficiaries to reduce as more businesses resume operations. We do anticipate with the reopening of the economy that we will see a reduction perhaps in the number of individual applicants receiving the payout. We don't anticipate it will be a huge number. You indicated 1,000 or just over 1,400 or so from the hotel sector as in comparison to perhaps 13,000, 14,000 employees that are employed in that sector. So while we will continue to make the payouts to the qualifying applicants, we do anticipate with the reopening of the economy that we will see some reduction in the number of persons actually receiving payouts from perhaps July up until September. The economic relief program forms part of the government's social stabilisation plan in response to the COVID-induced economic crisis. As of August 14th, St. Lucia was rated number one in the Caribbean for the national COVID-19 response. In a comparative data analysis of confirmed COVID-19 cases per 10,000 population in the Caribbean, St. Lucia had a rating of 1.4. The island has registered 100% recovery of the 25 positive cases of COVID-19. Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator Mary Isaac says this achievement is owed in large measure to the cooperation of citizens. This is not to say that we are out of the woods, as you know, there is still no vaccine for COVID. And since our borders are open, especially to the US and the UK, we have to continue to be very vigilant in order for us to maintain these ratings and in order for us to continue to contain the virus in St. Lucia. Senator Isaac says while the island's borders are open to international travel, including countries considered hotspots, illegal travel from neighbouring islands can compromise the fight against the pandemic. This is one of the greatest threats to us right now. People sneaking into the country without being tested, without a COVID test and who we are not aware come in and amongst our people here. And of course, as you can see, we have people who are not respecting the protocols. They are having big parties. They are having large congregations of people, people who are not wearing their mask. And these are the people who are putting our country at risk of reintroducing COVID amongst us.  I am appealing to the public, to our people, who have been the greatest part in terms of our accomplishment so far. I am appealing to them. If you know of any such person, you need to report the person to the authorities. Health Minister, Senator Mary Isaac. Training on the implementation of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment, CPEA, led by the Caribbean Examination Council CXC, has come to a fruitful conclusion. However, the Ministry of Education has been pressing on with the groundwork. All eight school districts will be carrying out further training on the internal components of implementing the CPEA. We hear more in this report. The Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development is confident that it has developed a comprehensive strategy for the implementation of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment, the CPEA, which replaces the Common Entrance Examination this September. Officials believe that the CPEA will better afford all students a more rounded education experience as well as enhance access and equitability in education. The Ministry has held a number of fact-finding missions in order to establish best practices. Education Officer for Assessment in the Ministry, Paterson Abraham, speaks under consultations with counterparts in St Vincent and the Grenadines. We had discussions on what were the experiences when they first implemented the CPEA program, what were some of the challenges that they experienced and some of the ways that they went about to battle those challenges and so that has helped us to create our own template as to how we see the best fit to implement this program come September in our schools. The Ministry has created a system of support for each of the eight school districts and officer has been assigned to work alongside education officers, curriculum officers, numeracy and literacy officers, principals and teachers. Training is also being provided to address identified areas of deficiency. Some of these areas are the development of table of specifications when it comes to the development of tests and so what we have planned to do is to carry out additional training with those teachers, with our principals, with our education officers so that the monitoring is very effective and that the successful implementation of the program would be something that we all can look forward to come September of this year. The challenges presented by COVID-19, Mr Abraham says, have been factored into the implementation plan. Many persons may feel that it may be a challenge but we are also taking into consideration the changes in the school D as well as the number of days that students attend school. We are also taking this into consideration in our implementation plan. So I think so far what we have done and the structures that we have put in place would definitely address those shortcomings and see a great success in the implementation. Given the groundwork that has taken place and the collaboration between the Ministry of Education and partner agencies like Camdo, Mr Abraham says St Lucia is well on the way to a successful implementation of the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment Program. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reports in. In an effort to aid in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Republic of China Taiwan has donated a total of 10,000 surgical masks to St Lucia's judicial workers including frontline policemen and firefighters. The Ambassador of the Republic of China Taiwan to St Lucia, His Excellency Peter Shen, recognized the important role frontline workers play in keeping the country safe. The Ambassador explained that the donations form part of Taiwan's commitment to assisting the people of St Lucia. For the past few months, the war has suffered from COVID-19. I admire the honorable Prime Minister and the Chinese leadership and efforts of the people of St Lucia during these challenging times. St Lucia has reported a 100% recovery rate with zero COVID-19 related deaths but an accomplishment. St Lucia has been one of the closest diplomatic allies of Taiwan and has always been supporting Taiwan's participation in international organizations such as UN, the World Health Organization. And it's only natural that Taiwan stands by St Lucia, especially at a recovering time like this. The Minister for Home Affairs and National Security, Senator Honourable Human Guild Francis, expressed gratitude to the Government of the Republic of China Taiwan for their continuous support. I want to say that this is not the first donation that Taiwan has given to St Lucia. Taiwan continues to be a very, very, very important and good friend to St Lucia. And so on behalf of the people and Government of St Lucia, we want to thank you for your continued support to assist in our country, not only in these medical equipment, but you have done human service for us when it comes to agriculture, education, and other areas including sports. So again, I don't want to take too long. I just want to thank you very much for inviting us to this ceremony and to thank you for the donation of this face mask, which will go a long way in assisting our frontline officers in dealing safely with this pandemic. Attorney General of St Lucia, Stephen Julian, was on hand to receive the donation on behalf of judicial workers. St Lucia sees Taiwan as a true friend and this donation is a demonstration of it because as far as I'm aware, we are receiving having not even asked. So you've seen the need, you have appreciated the work done by our frontline workers and with your sterling record of where it pertains to COVID-19 and your response, you're world leader in that area. And with our own amourable efforts, we think we would only be strengthened in keeping St Lucia on the right path, protecting our nationals, protecting those who leave home every day and go and serve us to fight the scourge of COVID-19. So we're very appreciative of it. The hand-in-over ceremony of the surgical face masks to place on Friday, August 14, 2020. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primus Hutchinson with NTN Novello Quay All. COVID-19 is a new pandemic disease as declared by the World Health Organization. It is transmitted directly by respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes or indirectly through rubbing the face with contaminated hands. There is still no specific treatment or vaccine against COVID-19 and as such, the farming community should adhere to some special recommendations. Reduce your farm labour to only essential workers. Ensure regular hand washing with soap and water or use 60% to 95% alcohol-based hand sanitizer until soap and water are available. Clean all work surfaces and farm tools such as cut glasses, forks and sprayers with a 10% bleach solution. Ensure that toilets are cleaned thoroughly after each use and sanitized daily. Prohibit visitors to the farms. Limit contact among farm workers and promote social distances ensuring six feet between each worker and promote a no-hand shaking or unnecessary touch policy. More than ever before, your important role as the gatekeepers of St Lucia's nutritional, health and food security should be taken seriously. When you exercise these precautions, you not only safeguard your health but also continue to allow all St Lucia's access to freshly grown fruits, vegetables and other local crops. Remember, it is our responsibility to ensure our nation eats fresh, St Lucia's best. Welcome back. We now join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle-aux-Couillol. I am from the Cabinet Government, a company called Cabot. I am here to address the situation of the development of Tewi's expectation for the construction of the Kaiwizida Economic Business and for the reverse of the construction costs and for the opportunity to explain to the public the importance of the situation. I am here to declare the name of the company, called Cabot, and the name of the company, called Tewi, which was an agreement that is already made with the companies that have been under Tewi's reservation. The department explained that it was an agreement to cut the net concerns under the Tewi's reservation company, among which is the Board oflden Connaught Counts, Secret Beach, among which is the land ownership set up under the Tewi's reservation company, which was established by the staff of the each of the includes theêter. According to the Department of Health, we have made an assessment, an appeal, and that the government ministries have their own recommendations to consider. The cabinet has returned its recommendations to the Department to review and consider my presentation. According to the recommendations, we have made recommendations to approve an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. The cabinet approved an agreement to approve a social security agreement for 75 years in a condition that the department was established and approved by the government. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to approve an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to approve an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. According to the Department of Health, we have made an agreement to lodge a social security agreement in July 2020. to control the disease. We have a report from the New York Times, the Prime Minister has called for these planes to be used for development and implementation tests for all passengers. We have a discussion with CNBC, the Prime Minister has explained that there will be a chain discussion in the industry of planes to address this situation because it can solve a serious problem for everyone. We have a discussion with CNBC on the 12th of October, and also on the 7th of October. We have a discussion with the media on the financial issues that have been caused and that have been dealt with this action. It is so fast that the corona and the action has been seen by the Prime Minister. We have Alan Chastner, I have talked about the situation of corona with the great economic pressure associated with this crisis. This crisis is 100% free from the corona disease. The police have set up a vilcastry to continue the program of the tests to place them in a position to assist the Prime Minister. This week, the police have decided to follow the tests to learn how to conduct their exercise, to search and search for medical devices, to address the 12th of October to act, and then the prisoners are closed. The prisoners have to be equipped with various services in France. Mr. Frost Chico, the organization of the police has facilitated this before it has been signed. Before that, the police has signed three days of training to communicate effectively. It has been done in collaboration with the Minister of Justice and the Director of Public Prosecution. Mr. Limer, to vilcastry, Peterson Francis, declared that this training cannot continue to place these policemen in the first position of development and that they are more capable of acting and doing their work. Mr. Francis remarked that in this situation these prisoners have to pay as much as necessary to continue this training to make these policemen more prepared to place their positions to address these first situation. The first situation is that these representatives come in and critical to these policemen to vilcastry to receive these training to make them more capable and more responsible to make them more capable to work in this situation. This is the result of our new event. I thank you for your time and for your invitation. I also thank you for the new event. The next one is Aalicia That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the Saint Lucia government Facebook page or in Ochu channel. I am Aalicia Antwang.


module. We'll have you back at 1409 on the ZOE. Houston, thank you very much for that inspirational music. We're ready to answer the call, and you timed it perfectly. We were just coming into a beautiful sunrise. Okay, Houston, we have OSDS data. Maintenance is required. It says, for OSDS, check out step four. Record roll one and send for five minutes. That's all complete. Then it says to power off OSDS. I wanted to make sure that they in fact want to power it off now and not wait till later. Yes, we have. And we'd like to get the switch box prior to the cabin repress. Start working on the switch box. Do you want to wait until we're OSDS? You guys can see that. And before we lose you, we are also ready for RMS Ungrapple. All those activities during the OSDS, do you want to wait on the OSDS? You can press on. Do I understand we'll go to Ungrapple before we get the switch box? Switch box first and then Ungrapple. Okay, thank you. NL-A7L, heaters slash DCU power three down please. Go for cabin repress. LOS, we'll get you 22 hours and 17 minutes. Low video, rigor. If you're not using camera, delta, we're approaching a thermal limit. We'd like to power it down. Okay, he's headed back. He'll turn it off. And Jim, we thought we'd give you an AP story that I'm reading right here that the federal employees are reporting to work today as usual. And what we expect that as much as 40% of the federal workforce will be sent home sometime later in the day due to our budget situation.  LOS call, will go. You could take it whenever you want to. We have a good image up in the docking module. Fun place to enjoy yourself in zero gravity. I don't think it'll be empty for long, Dave, but it's a nice bit of space right now. Your lighting looks good and your focus looks good. The last astronauts have finished the first step in a major goal of the space program, assembling a space station in orbit. The crew is joining us live. We thought they'd be on the shuttle's flight deck, but in fact, they're doing live television from places that have never been done before. The Russian-built docking tunnel has landed speeds over the Mediterranean Sea, trailing the mirror by about 900 miles and closing at a rate of 119 miles each orbit. Commander Ken Cameron, does it worry you that the U.S. government is prepared to shut down in an hour or two and NASA will probably have only a bare-boned staff in a few hours to support your mission? No, we're not worried. We know that we have a very dedicated team at NASA supporting this mission, both within the government and also with the many contractors that support the space shuttle. We realize that there's a lot going on in the financial world and in the echelons of government, but the NASA family will look out after each other and we know that mission control and the many folks in NASA are taking care of us. For pilot Jim Hulso, what's been the biggest surprise of this flight for you so far? Compared to my first flight, we're flying in a slightly higher altitude. I can see a lot more of the Earth every time I look out the window. And the sun angles just happen to be lower, so we get a lot of perspective, a lot of shadows that bring out a lot of relief of the Earth. So flying over the Andes or over the Himalayas or over the Ops is just a spectacular experience and it's something I'm not sure to get. Yeah, Chris Hatfield is a Canadian member of the crew. Chris, how does the docking this morning go from your perspective as you put the tunnel where you're standing or floating right now onto the shuttle's airlock? And when you're done, please pass the microphone over to Commander Cameron for the same question for him as far as how the connection of these two pieces went. It went perfectly. I had the chance to use the Canadarm, the robot arm that built by Canada that's put on the shuttle today and it worked exactly like it had in the best of our training simulators in Houston. I picked it up out of the back of the bay and brought it forward and then positioned it exactly where I wanted it to be using the onboard systems and the space vision system and the digital to come out of the arm. And then when we assembled it, it was built in Russia. It just worked exactly like everybody said, so it was letter perfect. Yeah, Commander, from your perspective you had to sort of drive the shuttle into this docking tunnel, didn't you? Yes, that was what we used to make the actual energy of contact with the thruster firing from the orbiter and this was something that we had given considerable thought to about what would be the required amount of energy, how would the mechanism work, what kind of tolerances had to be present on the surfaces and it had been worked out very thoroughly in Houston and in Moscow since this was the first time that we'd ever joined Russian and American hardware in quite this way. Another question for you, Commander. Do you have any concerns as you get ready to take a six-hour nap? I won't call it a full-night sleep and then get ready for tomorrow's docking with Amir himself. Everything is working pretty well. Well, we've had a series of busy days. If we can finish up all of our objectives today we'll probably try and wind down a little early and then everyone will be looking for a good-night sleep because as you said we have a very busy day tomorrow. One more question for Chris Hadfield if I can, Chris. You got to experience a shuttle launch for the first time two days ago. Describe it to us. It is spectacular. From about five minutes in when we knew for sure that we were going to have the weather to go the smile on my face just got bigger and bigger and I was just beaming through the whole launch. I mean it is an amazing ride. I've had a chance to fly a lot of different airplanes but there's nothing like the shuttle ride. Right, and if we've got time one last quick question for Jim Holtz out is what you're doing really worth it? Does the world really need a second space station in orbit right now? You better believe it, John. What we're doing is setting the groundwork for a series of experimental laboratories that are just going to meet a lot of mankind. The science that we're going to be able to bring home is to continue with scientific research on orbit. It's going to bring back a lot of payback to the people on Earth and that's what we're trying to achieve is to improve the lives of the people on Earth. All right, Commander Cameron and members of the Atlantis crew, thanks for allowing us to visit your flight back today. Good luck with the docking. We'll talk again later when you weigh something after you land next week. Gentlemen, thanks very much. Bill, Andrea, interesting. Thank you very much. First of all, you can do antenna cable repositioning beginning in the ZOE which is in about 12 minutes. You'll have an extended period to do the cable repositioning until 3 plus 35. That's about 20 minutes past AOS on the west. We'll get back to the cryo-config however you want to do it. Do the error log resets to SM and GNC after you do your CRT power down please. We talked about the drivers there in config and a heads up on the left ohms helium press A closed if you haven't gotten it yet and the PMC will be on the other side of the ZOE here coming up per the timeline but we're going to have bad calm like yesterday for about 10 or 15 minutes so we'll have to do it as we lock up cleanly we'll coordinate. Okay Jim first please on panel A15 5 heaters A and B 4 switches auto please taking over tank 5 to auto. And then next on R1 on R1 cryo-02 and H2 tank 1 heaters A and B all 4 switches off please. We sure appreciate all the support during today it's been a very exciting day we really made some big strides towards the ultimate goal we're real happy we're a little bit tired right now and so we really appreciate the chance to settle back and we'll probably try and turn in a little early tonight. Very good and we'll give you a little word on the flight plan by the way we did get a notice here and let's just say that there are a lot of good parking spots available. A couple of minutes for that last comment to sink in I didn't realize what what had happened I'm sorry to hear that in fact that people aren't coming to work because that hurts a lot of folks we are sure pleased and grateful that so many people are taking care of us as we mentioned at CNN and we'll rest assured that everybody necessary to safely conduct your mission is here and conducting the rest of our missions and hopefully this will be short-lived


Strange brick uncovered in renovation, clue inside leads to hidden room. It wasn't on any of the plans, yet there it sat, begging to be opened. The chain of events was already an amazing story he would tell for years to come. But every part of him hoped there was another step in their underground journey. His mind raced with countless possibilities as he stepped forward and pushed hard. Ian was an enthusiastic home renovator in DIYer, but the final project on his list was something he had been avoiding since the get-go. The basement room was not only in rough shape, but brickwork was low on his list of talents. It was time to call in reinforcements. His friend Neil was far better suited to help him salvage the beautiful lines of the classic wine cellar. Whether or not it would be used to store actual wine was a different story. A gaming room was a strong contender. However, as they started sorting bricks, Ian noticed something strange. From the little he had learned about his new home and property, was that much of the bricks and limestone accents had been reclaimed. Most of them were what anyone would expect, aged, reddish and rough. Several of them, however, had strange markings etched into the surface. Ian and Neil separated the unique pieces and puzzled over their meaning. A code? Board workers with an old-style version of graffiti? He was about to suggest spy coordinates when Neil showed the search results on his phone. Neither of them had any idea of what was about to happen. It turns out the markings were very intentional. Ian turned one over in his hand and listened to his friend talk about manufacturer stamps, and how most of what surrounded them had come from Illinois. But as he picked up another one, the end broke off and shattered on the floor. There was a small compartment inside. There, nestled in a pile of red dust, was an old key. The rusted, ornate curves and distinct geometric teeth were a clear sign it wasn't modern by any means. He carefully pulled it out, feeling a rush of excitement. This was unbelievable. There was only one, burning question. What did it open? Since the bricks had come from another state, maybe it belonged to a faraway door. Perhaps some poor worker had lost his house key. Still, the surge of adventure was strong, and they scrambled around the room, looking for another clue. It was closer than they expected. The plan had always been to dismantle sections of the wall down, so they could find any future problems with the seller. But now the motivation was real. The thrill of discovery flooded their brains. With ecstatic grins, they started to chisel and pull out parts. It didn't take long to uncover something new. Behind the far wall was a hidden door. Whatever was going on there wasn't on the blueprints. Ian felt giddy, like a kid about to run down for Christmas morning. This was unbelievable. It was even more astounding than the key actually turned inside. The door groaned and squealed as he heaved it open. He ducked into the new, small space, careful to watch his footing just in case. The air smelled old and stale. Years of dust and dirt had built up over mounds and dips of what looked like rotting canvas. Feeling his heart beat at maximum, he tugged at a corner. The fabric fell away to reveal a pile of old crates, nailed boxes, and some mysterious wrapped objects. Both of them stared in awe. Ian pulled out a dusty bottle from one box. He squinted at the faded label and then let out a bellowing laugh. Neil grabbed the jug, wanting to know what was so funny. Ian said, whiskey. I have hidden whiskey in my hidden wine cellar. This is insane. They poured over every item and piece of paper, wanting to know more. After all, the older the find, the more valuable it could be. In the end, Ian and Neil uncovered 30 bottles, a couple of piles of disintegrating cash, plenty of old American coins, and a ledger. It turned out it was a prohibition stash. Ian couldn't help but think of the nerve it had taken for someone to hide booze in a booze room. But what was it all worth? The total value of the discovery ended up over $20,000. There was no measuring the historic value though. In the end, he decided to donate a few pieces and sell most of the remaining bottles to collectors. He would keep a couple in his wine cellar or game room. Whatever it ended up being, he now had the money for it.


At Audiology Associates of Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. With 40 years of being in the hearing care industry, you'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. The Johnson County Trail Town Committee held their hiking with friends hike along the Kiwanis Trail on Paintsville Lake on Saturday, January 6th. The idea is to get out and do something, get out and move around and take advantage of the beautiful area that we live in and get some walking done, get moving and get active, get outdoors in 24. The hike began on the Paintsville Lake Dam and continued on into the Kiwanis Trail. Despite the low turnout, the hike still took place and the Johnson County Trail Town Committee is committed to doing even more events throughout the year. Staying active now and keeping our body limber and moving is a really good thing. Also, the seasonal effective depression is a real thing when it gets kind of cold and dreary outside. Sometimes we don't feel so good and we start being draggy and don't feel like we really want to do anything and we really do get depressed. Getting out, being active, breathing fresh air and seeing other people helps with seasonal effective depression a lot and gives us some hope. For updates on future events, you can visit the Johnson County Trail Town Committee Facebook page. For Mountain Top News, I'm Kelcey Fidell.


So the power you have is to hold off that power within you to hold off Falling into the sexual piece to determine if he's a legit guy ladies It takes about a hundred hours of face-to-face time just to build the first layer of trust in a relationship The first layer of trust now I'm not saying you have to wait a hundred hours to have sex But I'm saying most guys disappear in a very short period of time and by the way today's dating is so Predicated on spending a little time here a little time there and a lot of time on your telephone a lot of it's spent on text Messaging and telephone calls and very little face-to-face time and trust is built through social activities Hobbies mutual interest spending time with family and friends traveling together teamwork building skills both in your personal and professional life That is where deep intimacy is built


Welcome, and Aloha. My name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea program. And today we're going to go across the sea to New Zealand to talk with my friend New Zealand lawyer, Neil Russ. Hawaii and New Zealand seem to have a lot in common.  But the viewpoint may be different. And I've asked Neil to describe the view from New Zealand. Neil, welcome. Good to see you. Usually we meet somewhere in Asia during the year at a law convention, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. But today you're in Auckland. Is that right? It's correct, Mark. You're right. Nice to see you. Yeah, welcome. Welcome. And it is also, it's Tuesday in Auckland, right? So you're in the future. You're in the future for us. And I'd like to know what the future holds, really. But first of all, tell us a little bit about your background, where you were born, grow up, how you got involved in the law, and what type of law you do, and what's, you know, generally what it's like to be a lawyer in New Zealand. Yeah, sure, Mark. Well, first, thanks very much for inviting me to speak with you. It's always great to speak with any lawyer from any other jurisdiction, because we always learn something. And I very much value the opportunity to speak to you today, and hopefully to talk through some issues of common interest and maybe a few differences that are quite, actually, quite important differences between the way New Zealand's been going about things. And in the US, for example, on a couple of levels. And also, just a bit of a reflection about what that might mean for us and our clients as we all move together into the future. So I was born in New Zealand. I grew up in a little town near Wellington, which is the capital city. And that was in the 60s. And then I went to university in Victoria University of Wellington, which is naturally, I think I was New Zealand's best law school. I initially thought I was going to be a marine biologist. And that was where my passion lay in science and biology. And then I was skiing with some friends of mine, mountaineering and ski touring, in fact. And one of them was a lawyer, and he told me about his life and his role. And I thought that was pretty interesting. So for one semester, I tried a law paper at university. I sailed through my science papers, but the law was hard. And I thought that was a really good challenge. And so I stuck with it. And so I became, I was admitted to the bar in New Zealand in late 1986, and then travelled to England to work for six years, 1988 to 94. So I was working at a very small firm called Clifford Chance. And really enjoying doing all kinds of banking, derivatives, tax, structured financing work, restructuring there. I learnt a lot. One of the things that happened in London was I went on to Cullman to a bank. And that gave me a really good insight into things that matter for clients. That's not all about the law. It's sometimes what you can do with the law. And also packaging what you say into meaningful statements that a client can use can be more important than being the best lawyer in the world. So those were some pretty valuable lessons for me. That actually sounds like good advice for a young lawyer or two. It's not just in the books. It's in the experience too. And your experience of actually being in the bank with the actual client, as opposed to being in the law firm, is valuable. Most lawyers don't get that opportunity. Yeah, that's right. So Clifford Chance was quite good at operating secondment programs. So they were very keen that clients and their lawyers got together and worked collaboratively. And that benefited both sides. And I think that's a very valuable lesson. That's really a great advice for a law firm to do that type of thing. I mean, that helps out not just the lawyers, but the law firm and the client all at the same time. Yeah, I mean, for the big law firms, of course, there tends to be a cost associated with that. And especially if you risk losing some of your best people during the most productive periods to go off into a client environment, particularly since often those arrangements don't pay that well for the law firm. So there's another issue that I'm sure will come up at some point, Mark, around is money the most important thing. Personally, I don't think so. I think there's more to it than that. But there is a balancing act to be struck by the relevant firm concerned, that's for sure. Okay, so at some point, you decided to come back home to New Zealand. How did that come about? And what do you have to do to become a lawyer in New Zealand? I mean, you have to pass a bar exam and like we do here? Yes. So unlike, as I understand it, in the US, you do an undergraduate degree and then you'll do your legal qualification and then you pass your bar exam. In New Zealand, you can do law as an undergraduate degree. I did honours as sort of an enhanced undergraduate degree. And then you do, when I did it, you do a year's study, additional papers, and then you have further exams to pass the bar exam and become admitted. So that will be a minimum of five years. And it's probably the same today. I guess the difference is you can become qualified to practice at a relatively young age in New Zealand. So if you left school and went to university at, say, the 17 or 18 years old, you could be qualified in the early 20s. So that I think is a bit of a difference. Many lawyers, though, they take two degrees or they'll take a little longer to get there. So there's no particular time limits except for that. There are some requirements beyond that, though. If you wish to practice by yourself on your own account, there are some minimum periods of practice that have to be satisfied. So there's a minimum period of three years before you can become eligible to become a partner in a law firm, for example. And a minimum period of seven years before you become eligible for certain positions, including being appointed to the bench. So you need to get some experience under your belt. Is this under a bar association or the government or what is it? Here in Hawaii, we have a bar association. I think most states are like that. We are required to belong to the bar association. Is that what happens in New Zealand, too? Not quite. So in New Zealand, we have the New Zealand Law Society, which has a dual role. It is the regulator of all lawyers in New Zealand. And it is also running an educational and advocacy and law reform role separately. So in New Zealand, the New Zealand Law Society is the central bar association equivalent that is involved in the majority of lawyers' practices. So, for example, every year you must pay a practicing fee to get your practicing certificate. And there are various statements and minimum professional development hours and things like that have to be complied with. So that is the New Zealand Law Society. The New Zealand Law Society looks after that. Ironically, membership of that society is not obligatory. So you can be regulated by an entity that you are not a member of. But something like 95% or more lawyers in New Zealand belong to the Law Society, probably 97 or 98%. In addition, there are other bar associations. So because New Zealand lawyers are both what we call barristers, that is people with a right to appear in court and solicitors. That is people who interact in offices with clients. We have what's called a fused profession of those two roles. Some lawyers elect to become barristers' soul. So they simply appear in court for clients and they will take their instructions from solicitors. And that's called the intervention role. Those barristers, they have a separate bar association called the New Zealand Bar Association. And that's a voluntary thing. And there are also some other regional bar associations that exist. But the majority of lawyers in New Zealand find themselves dealing day-to-day and in a very real regulatory sense with the New Zealand Law Society. Okay. So you came back to New Zealand, Neil. And you started practicing in New Zealand. And now where are you now? I mean, what happened? What is the course of your career? What type of law are you doing now? Okay. Thanks, Mark. So in 94, I came back to New Zealand. I've been offered a partnership in Buttlefinley, which is one of New Zealand's large commercial law firms, while I was still in London. And I was in the partnership process in London as well. But for a range of reasons at that time, taking a partnership in a New Zealand law firm with a whole bunch of things going on seemed like a really good idea. And so I did that. And I came back and I practiced banking, derivatives, taxation, law. And within a short period of time, for a variety of unexpected reasons, partners in Buttlefinley, the tax partners began leaving. And it was just an agent-stage thing and one of them had identified an opportunity to become a specialist barrister, for example. And these things happen. So the firm asked me to step in and to run the tax practice. Now, I've done tax in England. And I've done quite a lot, as part of my banking and structured finance work. But I wasn't really, at that point, a specialist tax practitioner. And I stepped in and moved from the Auckland office to the Wellington office of the firm and ran the tax practice down there until about 2000. And then we restructured the practice, brought it all to Auckland, which is where the majority of our commercial clients were focused. And which is also the best gateway into Australia and up into Asia. And so we ran the tax practice from the Auckland office. And I did that until 2019, when I set up a specialist firm of my own. And that just does tax and anti-money laundering work. So we identified that there was a gap in the market that a firm like Buttlefinley couldn't fill and no one else was filling it. So that's why we jumped in. Okay. And I got to ask you about this anti-money laundering. I mean, that's the first I heard of it. What is it? How did it come about? I mean, is it going to be the new normal in law practice everywhere? What is it about anti-money laundering as a specialty? What is it? Please explain. So internationally, the OECD for years has been through the financial action task force has been promoting across the globe, this idea that banks in particular need to know their client, they need to verify who their clients are. They need to get information from their clients about where that client's money has come from, source of wealth, source of funds, what's going on with that client. Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism is all about making sure that dirty money or money that's being used for illegal purposes isn't being cleansed and re-entering the financial system. In New Zealand in 2009, we legislated to require the banks and financial service companies to become subject to these measures, which required essentially verification of the identity of people who are dealing with those institutions and tracing of the funds in certain circumstances. And there's an allied reporting obligation to a specialist unit of the New Zealand police as well if suspicious activity is detected. Now all of that sounds very unlawly, right? Because lawyers use confidentiality, they used to execute in client instructions and frankly they don't ask a lot of questions often about what their clients are up to. We trust typically, we trust our clients, we think that they're doing legal things and we're doing things properly. In New Zealand once the banks became regulated, it became inevitable that other financially involved entities such as lawyers, accountants and real estate agents in particular would become subject to the same type of rules. So now for certain types of activities only, not everything a lawyer does, but for certain types of activities, before you start a business relationship with a new client, you must find out who that client is. If it's a company or a trust or some opaque business structure, you need to find out who owns, who's behind that client, who owns that client. You know really, not just sort of notionally. And then in certain circumstances with high-risk clients or high-risk jurisdictions, you've got to find out where that money has come from and you need to retain evidence of what you've discovered, keep those records and have those audited every two years. So there's actually, you could say somewhat cynically that the lawyer has moved from the confidant of the client into an unpaid government spy agency in relation to illegal client activities. And that's perhaps an uncharitable characterization, but we certainly are seeing the role of lawyers shifting perceptibly now and the confidentiality there is hitherto being the cornerstone of that client relationship has been somewhat eroded. So and that's an area of law that is recent. Was there something that prompted that, some terrorist activity? Or was there some reason that New Zealand, I mean I don't think we have something similar in the United States.  So as I say, it was always coming at some point once the banks became subject to anti-money laundering. Lawyers in New Zealand operate trust accounts. So many lawyers do, not all. My firm doesn't for example, but larger law firms or specialist law firms dealing in real state property conveyancing, they'll operate a trust account and they can be transacting on behalf of clients through those trust accounts. So they were seen as a risk issue akin to banks, because they could do things under the cloak of anonymity afforded by the legal instruction relationship. And so what was happening? New Zealand was under scrutiny for a lot of its trust regimes and there was a report issued in relation to our so-called foreign trusts which in some people's view were being improperly used or capable of being improperly used as a tax haven. And as a consequence of that report, the spotlight came on lawyers to be regulated and to be more transparent about their dealings with clients and to justify those relationships if necessary in a bit more depth. And so that's what happened in 2018, quite quickly in fact lawyers were brought into the regime with maybe only nine months notice. Well, that is very interesting and I just wonder if it's going to be something that we in the United States are going to see more of. I think New Zealand is maybe ahead of the curve on that and we're going to take a one minute break right now and then I want to ask about the COVID-19 pandemic and I mean, I've heard a lot of things that New Zealand is ahead of the curve on that too. So I'd like to ask you a little bit about how that is affecting just generally the population and the law profession. So we'll take a one minute break and we'll be right back. Aloha, I'm Kili Ikeena, the host of Hawaii Together on the ThinkTech Hawaii broadcast network. Hawaii Together deals with the problems we face in Paradise and looks for solutions, whether it's with the economy, the government or society. We're streamed live on ThinkTech biweekly at 2 p.m. on Mondays. I want to thank you so much for watching. We look forward to seeing you again. I'm Kili Ikeena. Aloha. Mark Schloef, host of Law Across the Sea. We are back with Neil Russ. Neil, tell me what has New Zealand done with the COVID-19 pandemic? How has it affected the citizens? How has it affected the law profession? Yeah, well, my own situation is probably reasonably useful to illustrate how New Zealand has dealt with all of this. I went skiing in Canada on the 6th of March and at that time there was this little concern that maybe there might be something going on in the world. Vancouver seemed pretty fine. Certainly Whistler, the snow was epic and we got back to a completely changed world. In New Zealand, when I returned on the 16th of March, I had to go into a 14-day mandatory self-isolation. That was followed shortly after by a complete lockdown of the country, which we have only recently merged from. We had five weeks where businesses were closed, movement was restricted, you couldn't drive, you couldn't go anywhere. You could only go to the supermarket for essential shopping to the chemist or to access medical assistance. That was it. New Zealand went hard and went early, so that was in March. The total numbers of infections in New Zealand, as of yesterday, I think we were 1497, that's total infections that have been counted, including probable cases, and then there have been 21 deaths. By global standards, about 10 of those actually were in one rest home, a very unfortunate situation where a dementia unit got in there and some people were already very unwell. There were some very unfortunate deaths there. By global standards, that's amazing, population of five million people, most of those 1400 cases were imported, that is, they were contracted overseas, or they were family members of people who'd been overseas and they caught it from them. Very few cases were what we call community transmission. New Zealand went hard, went early, and we're just now, in two days' time, emerging from that lockdown. We've gone from what's called level four, which is that complete lockdown, to level three. We've been there for just under two weeks, and that allows people to move around a little bit, but not much, and now we're going to level two. So businesses, shops, and hospitality, that kind of thing, will begin to reopen from Thursday, New Zealand time, and schools will go back on Monday. So kids so far have been learning from home. So it's been a very different world for us all here in New Zealand. It's been How about how about how about lawyers?  The lawyers, I mean, a lot of our lawyers here in Hawaii were just working from home. Is that the same in New Zealand? Yeah, that's been our experience, too. So most lawyers have been able to utilize technology to great effect. So using video conferencing systems and just good practices in terms of working collaboratively online to work from home. And they've been able to do that quite successfully. The economy, though, has been really battered by this, because if you can imagine shutting down an economy completely for five weeks, some of the business that we were doing some of the work we were doing for clients has just stopped because the transactions that made sense two months ago just do not make sense anymore. The economics aren't there. Some clients are going to the war. One law firm has said it will close as a result of its COVID-19 experience, and that's very unfortunate. That was a law firm that did a lot of mergers and acquisitions work, and they just had nothing. They were doing nothing. And in law firms, I understand that, you know, if they can do work from home, they will, but like businesses like the hospitality, we mean, that's a big business here in Hawaii, New Zealand. I know, especially in Auckland, where I've been several times, hospitality is big.  New Zealand is closed to anyone other than New Zealand residents, or certain people with a special permission, one of permission. Broadly speaking, New Zealand is closed. If a New Zealander returns, they have to go into a mandatory government facility for 14 days, and it's essentially a quarantine scenario. If they are tested, and if they show any signs, then they are literally quarantined. So you cannot really come to New Zealand at the moment. As an interim measure, domestic tourism is being promoted. And hopefully as well, we're going to have what's called the trans-Tasman bubble with Australia, and we'll have the ability to travel to Australia for holidays and vice versa. So you mentioned a government facility for 14 days. So that's something that's set up by the New Zealand government, and it's controlled by the government. I mean, it means you have to, you've kind of been locked down. It's what I hear. Yeah, they're local hotels. So hotels that would have had tourists in them are now being repurposed for these quarantine purposes. And so you're under, not guard exactly, but you're unable to leave. Is there security there? You know, is there government security that is overlooking people? Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a private sector, but it is making sure people do not leave. Yeah, that's correct. The New Zealand government's taking it incredibly seriously. That's for sure. Okay, now, what is the future here? I mean, it seems that New Zealand is a little bit ahead of us, maybe, but what we're, I mean, is there talk about where it's going or what to expect? Well, we could end up with this dystopian world, right? We've got a bubble of non-infectious populations, so Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific. Those countries, such as Fiji, Tahiti Samoa, and others in this region could find themselves isolated from other economies in terms of tourism and travel. Trade will continue and that's fine, but we could end up with a situation where the US has been through the worst of it, Europe's been through the worst of it, UK, but other countries like New Zealand are just unable to get involved in the tourism. I mean, that was a big deal for us. Tourism brought in four million visitors or something a year, I'm not exactly sure of the numbers, but it was very, very significant and that's just gone, that whole sector. So yeah, we're struggling. Yeah, yeah, so we're all kind of finding our way. Now, Neil, we have about a minute left. What would you like people to know about New Zealand? What would you like the rest of the world to know about the place where you live and call? It's closed for now, but it's a friendly, welcoming, beautiful country and I would certainly love to see as many people as possible come here and enjoy it as soon as it's safe. It's a great place, it's a safe place and it's a kind of place, especially the South Island, which is full of mountains and glaciers and forest and so on. It's a beautiful, beautiful country and it's well worth visiting and it's also maybe closed for now for people, but it remains open for business for lawyers. So we're still here. Well, okay, Neil, I appreciate your time. It's nice talking to you, although it'd be nice to be in person and maybe that's where the future will be, but we say Aloha, what do you say in New Zealand? Well, we would typically great someone with kiora or haere mai and we would say welcome with haere ra. Well, thank you very much for being my guest today, Neil, and look forward to the next time we're together. Aloha. Thank you, thanks Mark.


So Craig uh, I brought you over here. Oh, you started recording. Yeah, so Craig up. I brought you over here. I Noticed yeah, you think we're going go-karting. I thought that's what you said, but there's something behind us that everyone wants you on The Sun No, I'd much rather be on the Sun I think it's time for you to go on a drop tower Just got really interrupted by an average giga coaster. Oh shade So are you ready? Yeah, no, not even slightly. I think we should go queue up and you're gonna go on drop tower because that's what everyone in the comments section wants Yeah, I think it's time. No drop tower time. Nope.  I'm not moving He's literally clinging on to the fence now for dear life. I want to go in the go-karts No, I think it's drop tower time. You promised me go-karts, Brendan You promised go-karts You hear the screams behind us the screen the screens behind us aren't helping I'm not going on it. I'm staying here. Why because no it's scary. I don't like giant sticks in the sky Well when you describe like that, but I think it's time to go on. Nope. All right, we're gonna go queue No, we'll be right back. I'm gonna get him out of his tantrum back. We're not coming back. Bye Yeah, maybe Are you ready, Craig? Point that camera somewhere else I Craig is terrified. Yeah, thank you Really trying to get him on this They're about to sign us rows Which row do you want one two three four five?   Do you have hot sauce on you today? Yes, I brought hot sauce to the park Just for you. I don't know you're Italian Doesn't mean I carry a bottle of pasta not hot sauce a bottle of pasta.   I'm not going on it. You can go by yourself He's so mad at me right now, I'm not writing Like I'm genuinely not you're literally next in line.  I'm not going on this thing.   No What's the worst that can happen I fall and die you thought that's so GP I Was your heart rate Look those kids are fine can I go again mom can't go again, and you're sitting over here Okay, we're row number three I'm not going this is to know we're in number three Okay, let's go. I'm not going Now I'm going to the exit. No right here get on. No Sorry, you're not going on. No, are you serious? Okay? Take the camera. You're going on.  We were sitting next to two people that knew us And you check it out. Yeah, why sorry people that knew us, okay? Well, he's going on by the end of the day like you're literally going on by the end of the day. Yeah, you are that's cute I'll get him on he promised you guys I didn't I hang on a second. I said no such thing I believe he did I believe I did not So another hour will try again You chickened out of drop tower right and I honestly I feel bad. Oh, no, I feel really bad so I mean I'm here to To make you feel a little more comfortable in your comfort zone with rides So we're gonna go visit planet Snoopy. You know what is happy? You'll feel much better and more welcome in there You're actually with it's more happy than it is. Oh my god. We're not actually going I can't believe you didn't clue in I'm like, let's go over here. I've been lied to Why what's over there for you? It's everything Everything is my speed over there. Yeah, it really is When did you get on behemoth on the vibe then last year last year for the first time? Why why because they were big and scary? Okay, drop tower is gonna happen Coming soon you excited.  Oh, you're not checking out this time watch me No, you're coming on. You have to know. Yeah Like why who finds that entertaining is just following these people Let them enjoy on their own terms. I don't want to enjoy it We're from the Sun


What's up internet? I hate getting monitors from ASUS because ayaw ko na sila'y balik after I'm done testing them. All of the tough monitors we've tried have been so good and the VG28U is no exception. It's perfection. The brand sent us this item for review but had no say in what we had to say about it. Let's get the headlines out of the way. This is a 28-inch 4K IPS, 144Hz, G-Sync compatible, FreeSync Premium, 1ms response time monitor. Tululaway specs but do they deliver? God yes. Everyone who saw this monitor was impressed. My brother passed by while I was reviewing it and when he saw how sharp it was, he asked what monitor it was. At the time, I was having it displayed data instead of games. I sent it to the shop where we tried it out with an R9, 5950X and a 3090 GPU and Rocky, Jay and Ren were also all blown away by this monitor. We're also all wowed by it. For my own impressions, yes, the monitor delivers everything that the specs claim it does. Gaming was buttery smooth with no lag, screen tearing or jagatness to mar the gameplay. As with the other tough monitors we've tried, I'd really like the screen quality. Colors just popped more. They seem more vivid on the VG28U and they look good right out of the box, no fudging around with settings required. Nakataon that we got the VG28U at the same time that we were reviewing the Eve Spectrum, another 4K 144Hz monitor. I was very impressed with the Eve Spectrum but side-by-side with the VG28U, kitang-kita yung superior color palette nung ASUS Tough Monitor. The more subdued, closer to natural colors of the Eve Spectrum might be better for content creators but my personal preference for a monitor is for the colors to be borderline offensive in how cheerful, sharp and bright they look. Yung gusto ko parang yaya bang yung monitor na tingal mo to look at what I can display. And ganun nga si VG28U. Display quality was just fantastic. Long story short, if you need a 4K gaming monitor then this is it. But at this point, we need to leave the PCMR and look at the monitor like a console slash peasant users point of view. The VG28U has HDMI 2.1. Not really a big deal for PC users who can just use the display port to get the highest resolution and fastest refresh rate that this monitor promises. But for console users, HDMI 2.1 is super important because the latest gen consoles, the PS5, the Xbox Series X, both use HDMI 2.1 to display at the fastest possible refresh rate at 4K. The PS5 can do 4K at 60 or even 120 Hz. But without HDMI 2.1, you're reduced to 4K at 30 Hz. So let's say you're one of the lucky ones that does have a PS5. You have a game that supports 4K at 60 Hz. But you won't be able to play at 60 Hz if you don't have HDMI 2.1. Problem solved with the VG28U. To be honest, I'm not a console gamer so I don't have a PS5 or an Xbox Series X. But if it displays as well as it does on a PC and by all indications it does, then console gaming on this thing would be quite good as well. We do get increased from time to time asking what's the best possible monitor to pair with a PS5? Well, the answer now is the VG28U because its HDMI 2.1 allows you to reach 4K gaming at high refresh rates. At the same time, the VG28U pairs well with any high-end gaming rig. You can even have it do boring things in portrait mode like work-related chat or just watching crypto prices crash like a rock. But really, it would be a crime to waste this monitor in portrait mode. Street price of the VG28U is around 52K which makes it substantially more expensive than the Eve spectrum. So which one should you get? If you're mostly a content creator, then the Eve spectrum might be the better choice for you. But if you're more into gaming and media consumption, then I would pay the price premium for the VG28U. To sum it up, if you're looking for a great monitor that works well both with PC and with console, then the VG28U is right up your alley. I give it 9.5 out of 10 on the sweetness scale. Tamis! I just docked the VG28U.5 because it does have some ASUS features which I've looked at and complained about in the past that don't really seem to add anything to the user's quality of life when using the monitor. Things like ELMB sync and Shadow Boost clutter up the UI and confuse the user without really adding anything as far as I can tell or perceive when using the monitor. They really do sound like something cooked up by marketing guys like, oh, the monitor will sell better if we have more jargon involved. Rather than, you know, features that are very clearly noticeable and useful to the user. Great monitor, it is a little expensive but to be honest, if you have the rig to even contemplate doing 4K gaming at high refresh rates, you've probably already dropped a serious amount of cash and, you know, and what's 50K more, right? Thanks for watching. And thank you to our top fans na affordo namin to kapua na to ande joke lang. Thank you to Leah Magnaya, Ian Meru, Richard Ongkinko, ITX Addict, John Ruben Otsha, Christian Espinosa and Raphael James. Thank you for supporting the channel.